President Donald Trump has indicated he wants to send troops to guard the border between the United States and Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than a third of Americans think such a move would benefit both countries.
According to a new YouGov survey of more than 10,000 US adults, 35 percent of Americans say deploying troops to the northern border — the largest non-militarized border on earth — will benefit both countries, while a quarter (25%) say neither would benefit from such a measure.
A week after the two countries agreed to close the border to all non-essential travelers, on Thursday, March 27, Trump said he would deploy troops along the Canadian border to match the level of military presence along the Mexican border in an effort to stem the flow of irregular border crossings during the pandemic. The Canadian government was quick to respond, suggesting such a move is unnecessary.
As of March 27, COVID-19 cases are surging more in the U.S. than in Canada.
More than one in 10 (12%) of Americans say deploying US troops to the Canada-US border would mostly benefit Canada, while 17 percent say it would mostly benefit the US.
American Democrats are much more likely to think militarizing the border will benefit Canada most (17%) compared to Republicans, or think neither country would benefit (34%). Roughly a quarter (26%) of Democrats think sending troops to the border would benefit both countries equally.
Republicans are more likely to think it would benefit the US most (27%) and more likely to say both countries would be a benefit, compared to Democrats.
When looking at the results along gender lines, men are more likely to say the US would benefit most, compared to women.
Methodology: Total unweighted sample size was 10,219 US adults. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all US adults (ages 18+). Interviews were conducted online between March 26 - 27, 2020.
