Trump Towers should be renamed, Canadians tell pollster

The majority of Canadians think developers should stop using the Trump name on high-rise towers, following his recently anti-Muslim comments in the Republican presidential campaign.

According to a new poll released by the Angus Reid Instituteon Friday, 56 per cent of those surveyed think the Trump should be dumped from one tower in Toronto and another under construction in Vancouver.

"By conducting this survey we were able to find that public sentiment is truly onside of seeing that name removed from local buildings," said pollster Shachi Kurl.

• Read the full survey results

But the survey found opinions were split, when the results were broken down by income, gender and location, and not all groups were opposed to the name.

Those who live in the country's three largest cities are the most likely to oppose the use of the name on the tower, with 71 per cent of Toronto residents polled and 60 per cent of Metro Vancouver opposed to the use of the name.

In contrast 50 per cent of residents polled in rural Canada were opposed to the use of the Trump name.

The survey found another split between men and women, with only 49 per cent of men thinking the name should go, compared with 63 per cent of women nationally.

And when it came to income, only 49 per cent of those who earned more than $100,000 per year thought the name should go.

Options limited, despite opposition

Calls to remove the Trump name from the towers in Vancouver and Toronto erupted after Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States", last week, but politicians have acknowledged there is little that can actually be done other than asking developers to drop the name.

The poll found two-thirds of Canadians disagree with Donald Trump's calls for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.

But that still leaves one-third of people surveyed who agree with it, notes Annette Henry, A UBC professor specializing in diversity and equality.

"I think as Canadians we like to think we are free of discrimination and exclusion andracism, but those things are unfortunately alive and well," said Henry after looking over the results.

The Angus Reid Institute conducted the online survey from Dec. 10 to 13 among a representative randomized sample of 1,530 Canadian adults who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. The survey was self-commissioned and paid for by ARI.