A sizable number of Canadians believe Prime Minister Justin Trudeau deserves to be on Santa’s naughty list this holiday season, according to an Ipsos poll conducted for Global News.
Ipsos asked Canadians to look at a list of high-profile public figures and choose whether they belonged on Santa’s naughty list or on his nice list.
The poll found 40% of respondents said Trudeau should be on Santa’s naughty list. This was compared to 18% who believed the Liberal leader belonged on the nice list.
Ipsos CEO Darrell Bricker said in an interview with Global News that “Justin Trudeau is right up there, in terms of the notoriety and difficulty that he has with Canadians right now.”
There were 26% of Canadians who believed Chinese President Xi Jinping should be on the naughty list. Only about 3% said Xi should be on the nice list.
Xi was involved with detaining Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor for more than 1,000 days. The Chinese government has also been accused of committing genocide against Uyghur Muslims.
“It’s probably just a lack of awareness of who (Xi) is,” Bricker told Global News. “(Of) the people who do have an opinion of him, the percentage that put him on the nice list is way lower than the percentage that puts him on the naughty list.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin beat out Trudeau for the top spot on the naughty list, with 44% of respondents saying he belonged there.
While Putin and Trudeau took the top spots, other public figures also scored high in terms of naughtiness.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg came in third place with 32% putting him on the naughty list, followed by Ontario Premier Doug Ford at 29% and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos at 26%. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney earned 19%.
Referring to major technology companies such as Meta and Amazon, Bricker says they used to be well-respected. However, he says, “their motivations and the effect that they have on the world (are problems) people feel that they haven’t been as accountable for as they should be.”
Bricker added that Ford and Kenney might be ranking high on the naughty list because of how they have handled the Omicron variant.
The poll found Canada’s health care workers are the most likely to find themselves on Santa’s nice list, with 54% of respondents saying they deserved to be there. Bricker said health care workers are ranked high because Canadians “see them as the champions leading us through this crisis.”
Actor Ryan Reynolds came in a distant second for the nice list with 29% support.
The Queen came in third place, with 1 in 4 Canadians saying she has been good. Bricker said the Queen often “does really well” in these rankings.
The poll was conducted between Dec. 10 and 15 with a sample size of 1,001 Canadians aged 18 and up surveyed online. The poll is accurate within ± 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
