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Governator a hit with Canadians

OTTAWA (CP) _ Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governator, made a strong impression on Canadians during his recent visit to the Great White North, producing poll numbers any local politician would die for.

A new Decima poll suggests 52 per cent of Canadians were left with a positive impression of the bodybuilder-turned-film-star-turned-politician. Only 13 per cent said they had a negative impression.

And the support for the burly Republican star of the hit Terminator movies cut across the political spectrum, with Green, Tory and Liberal supporters responding positively.

The poll suggests Canadians also liked his performance as California governor, with almost half saying he was doing an excellent or good job.

Only two per cent said he’s doing a poor job in office.

The poll of 1,000 Canadians _ part of Decima’s weekly omnibus survey _ is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Decima pollster Bruce Anderson said people may have chuckled when Schwarzenegger first ran for governor in a wild 2003 special election with 135 candidates ranging from politicians of every stripe to pseudo-celebrities and even a porn star. But he won re-election handily last fall and people took a second look.

"If there was a feeling when he got into politics that he might not be as well regarded in politics as he was in movies. I think the evidence is he’s turned out to be a pretty popular politician," Anderson said.

Anderson agreed Canadian politicians would love this level of support, but cautioned that there is a distance factor involved.

"It’s always easier to support somebody else’s politician than your own, because you may only become acquainted with the good things that they do and you may not have to live with any of the hard decisions that they take."

Anderson said the surprise is that Canadians _ who traditionally favour the Democrats _ would give such support to a Republican.

"He’s a high-profile Republican in a time when Republican policies, at least in Canada, are not that enthusiastically embraced," he said.

Schwarzenegger _ the Hummer fan who has become an unlikely champion of the environment _ spent much of his time in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver talking about his approach to environmental issues, a hot topic here as well as at home.

His program of approaching global warming as an economic opportunity rather than an economic problem, coupled with his let’s-get-moving attitude likely struck a chord with Canadians, Anderson said.