Canadians would rather vote for an atheist than an evangelical Christian, a new poll suggests.
The findings differ starkly from the respondents in the United States with just 37 per cent of Americans saying they would vote for an atheist as their President in the next 25 years compared to 68 per cent north of the border.
A similar question found 72 per cent of Americans said they could vote for an evangelical Christian to be there leader compared to 65 per cent of Canadians.
The study by the Angus Reid Institute found Canadians consistently more liberal and accepting than their American neighbours.
The two countries are roughly equal in their willingness to elect a woman or a Jewish person and have similar levels of hesitation about electing someone who wears a religious head covering.
Where they differ substantially is over electing a leader who is gay or an atheist with Canadians significantly more likely to say they would than Americans.
Unexpectedly younger respondents on both sides of the border are more open to voting for diverse candidates than older groups.
But whereas American respondents are deeply divided along political lines, in Canada the divide is more regional. French speaking Quebec, perhaps due to its adversity to organised religion, is more likely than the other Canadian regions to vote for an atheist (83 per cent compared to 80 per cent) but less likely to vote for someone who is religious.
The difference is particularly stark when it comes to religious head-covering with only 36 per cent of Quebec residents saying they would vote for a man who covers his head and 34 for a woman who covers hers. This compares to 56 per cent and 53 per cent respectively among average Canadians.
