New results from a Mainstreet poll for iPolitics suggests Canadians believe Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the best able to stand up for the country on the global stage, but think Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer would get along better with the Trump administration.

Results of the 2,463-person phone survey, conducted between July 30-31, show that 35.7 per cent of respondents selected the Liberals’ Trudeau as the best fit to represent Canada internationally, with Scheer not too far behind at 31 per cent and 12.7 per cent not sure. The NDP’s Jagmeet Singh was the next popular selection at 6.1 per cent, followed by the Greens’ Elizabeth May (5.4 per cent), the People’s Party of Canada’s (PPC) Maxime Bernier (3.8), “someone else” (3.1 per cent) and the Bloc Québécois’ Yves-Francois Blanchet (2.1).

But when it came to which leader they thought would work best with the nativist, right-wing populist Trump administration in the U.S., 39.4 per cent chose Scheer, compared to 29.4 for Trudeau, 4.6 for May, 4.4 for Singh, 4.1 for Bernier, three for someone else and 1.6 for Blanchet.

Just over 13 per cent said they were unsure.

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“These findings tell us that despite the odd hiccup over the last four years by Trudeau – most notably his trip to India – Canadians still prefer him as an advocate for Canada compared to the other party leaders,” Quito Maggi, president and CEO of Mainstreet Research, said in a statement, referencing the prime minister’s ill-fated trip to the country in 2018.

“Canadians likely see a slightly better ideological fit with Andrew Scheer and the current U.S. administration so that is what is driving these numbers,” he said.

The poll, which Mainstreet says is considered accurate 19 times out of 20 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.97 percentage points, also asked respondents a series of hot button foreign policy questions.

According to the poll, 52.4 per cent agreed that Canada should make reducing illegal immigration a top foreign policy priority, compared to 37.1 who disagreed. Canada has seen a surge in asylum-seekers crossing from the United States since 2017, largely in response to stricter immigration and refugee policies from the Donald Trump administration, most notably a decision to revoke the temporary protected status granted to Haitian nationals in the wake of that country’s devastating 2010 earthquake.

A Parliamentary Budget Officer report from last fall pegged the cost to taxpayers of the asylum seekers at $340 million in 2017, with health expenses for claimants expected to more than double by 2020.

READ MORE: Asylum-seekers cost Ottawa $340 million last year: PBO

However, in a result that may give pause to Bernier’s PPC, 68.4 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that “legal migration, such as accepting refugees fleeing violence, is something the federal government should encourage,” while only 24.6 disagreed.

Bernier has repeatedly said that a PPC government would lower the number of immigrants Canada accepts to between 100,000 and 150,000 per year, a level not seen since 1986.

During a press scrum Sunday during the PPC’s campaign launch, he said he considers accepting 350,000 immigrants per year, the target the federal Liberals have set for new arrivals to come to Canada in 2021, to constitute mass immigration, as the Canadian Press reported.

And perhaps signalling at Trump’s unpopularity in Canada, the poll says 66.4 per cent of respondents agreed that Canada should distance itself from the foreign policy of the U.S., including 39 per cent who strongly agreed. Only 22.1 per cent disagreed with that statement.

Finally, 62.3 per cent agreed that “Canada should work to limit the power and influence of Russia,” while 69.3 agreed with the statement “Canada should work to limit the power and influence of China.”

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