According to Senior Vice-President Doug Anderson; “In contrast with the views of Americans, Canadians continue to hold relatively positive views on President Obama’s performance and his odds of being re-elected. Recent surveys in the U.S. have shown that the President’s approval rating still hovers just below 50% and the President is in a virtual tie with potential Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney. However, Canadians are bullish on the President. Not only do a majority of Canadians hold the opinion that the President will be re-elected, Canadians also lean more to describing President Obama as having exceeded expectations. Considering our research had shown remarkably positive impressions of the President from the outset, this suggests Canadians still hold a much rosier impression of the President than his own constituents do.”

• Almost six in ten Canadians feel President Obama will be re-elected in November. Nationally, 59% express this view, while 25% feel Mr. Obama will be defeated in this year’s election.
• A majority in all regions and across all demographic groups feel Mr. Obama will be re-elected.
• Four in ten feel President Obama has done better than expected as President. Overall, 42% are of this view, while 29% feel President Obama has done worse than expected. One in ten (11%) feel President Obama has done about as well as expected.
• Women, younger Canadians and those in Quebec were among the most likely respondents to say the President has done a better job than expected.
• While a majority of Canadians are unsure of who the best candidate would be for the Republicans, Mitt Romney is the clear front runner among those who offered an opinion. Overall, 25% see Mitt Romney as the best candidate, while 7% prefer Ron Paul. Newt Gingrich is the choice of 4%, while Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum receive the support of 3% apiece.

Each week, Harris/Decima interviews just over 1000 Canadians through teleVox, the company’s national telephone omnibus survey. The most recent data were gathered between January 12 and January 15, 2012. A sample of the same size has a margin of error of 3.1%, 19 times out of 20.