VANCOUVER—Roughly 20 per cent of British Columbians feel their province would be better off if it left Canada, according to a new poll from Research Co.

And a further 66 per cent feel they have more in common with their Cascadian counterparts — people of Seattle and Portland — than with those in Toronto or Montreal. This represents a marked eight-point increase since a similar survey was conducted in 2016.

“Millennials are the driving force behind positive perceptions,” said Mario Canseco, president of Research Co. “Among residents aged 18 to 34, this sentiment reaches 72 per cent, compared to 65 per cent for those aged 35 to 54 and 64 per cent for those aged 55 and over.”

Meanwhile, 61 per cent of residents think the views of British Columbians are different from the rest of the country, the online survey found.

Yet across the province, approximately three in four residents — 77 per cent — said they will stay in B.C. for the rest of their lives while most are proud of the province — weighing in at a whopping 87 per cent.

The poll asked who the best B.C. premier of the past three decades has been: roughly 40 per cent of British Columbians could not pick a single person.

But three in 10 British Columbians picked Christy Clark as the worst premier of the last three decades, followed by John Horgan and Bill Vander Zalm.

Results were based on an online study of 800 adults in B.C. conducted from June 27 to 29, with a margin of error — which measures sample variability — of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.

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