U.S. Democrats were far more supportive of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s crackdown on the trucker protest than Republican and unaffiliated voters, according to a poll released Tuesday.
Two-thirds of likely Democratic voters, or 65.7%, approved of Mr. Trudeau’s tough response to the blockade, while 87.3% of Republicans and 74.4% of “no party/other” voters disapproved, according to the Trafalgar Group poll conducted for Convention of States Action.
Overall, 55.3% of American voters disapproved and 35.1% approved of Mr. Trudeau’s handling of the three-week-old protest, which ended last weekend after police made about 200 arrests and used tow trucks and pepper spray to clear the street blockade in Ottawa.
The Liberal Party leader invoked for the first time the Emergencies Act, which allowed the government to freeze bank accounts and financial resources of suspected supporters of the convoy.
Mark Meckler, president of the conservative group Convention of States Action, said that Mr. Trudeau’s “heavy-handed tactics to squash peaceful protests in Canada have shocked freedom-loving people around the world.”
“However, Americans will be equally stunned to learn from these numbers that 65 percent of Democrats actually support the tyranny happening right before our eyes, and 17 percent have not even heard about one of the most consequential stories of 2022,” Mr. Meckler said in a press release.
He accused U.S. media outlets of slanting the coverage of the trucker convoy. The poll found 9.6% of respondents were unaware of the protest, including 17.1% of Democrats.
Only 4.6% of Republicans and 4.8% of independents had not heard of the protest.
“The corporate media’s false reporting — or in many cases flat out ignoring this story — has contributed to this result. If we want to avoid totalitarianism in our own country, the people must be given the truth. This is shameful and horrifying,” Mr. Meckler said.
The poll of 1,080 likely general election voters was conducted Feb. 18-20. Its margin of error is plus or minus 2.99 percentage points with a confidence level of 95%.
Mr. Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14.
Our new @trafalgar_group/@COSProject poll (2/18-20) on how Americans feel about Trudeau’s handling of the #TruckersForFreedom protest in Canada:
— The Trafalgar Group (@trafalgar_group) February 22, 2022
55.3% Disapprove
35.1% Approve
9.6% Unaware of it
See Report: https://t.co/mwAm7V5uum pic.twitter.com/aDaz4EnV6H
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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