Canadian Expectations of Obama Sky-High.

And he is receiving very good marks for his decisions to date

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The results reveal:

* Despite his high profile ascent to the Presidency and the high expectations that have come with it, a majority (57%) feel Mr. Obama will do better than expected as President, while 30% think he will be less successful than expected.

* Residents of Quebec (65%) are the most optimistic that Obama will exceed expectations, however, a plurality in all regions answered in kind, including 60% in Alberta, and 54% in Ontario. Support was lowest in Manitoba and Saskatchewan where 48% felt he would exceed expectations.

* Canadians are so certain he will be successful that respondents are almost nine times more likely to say Mr. Obama will be re-elected in 2012 than defeated when he runs for re-election. 68% of respondents believe Mr. Obama will be re-elected when his first term expires, while just 8% think he'll be defeated.

* The expectations bar is high, but so far he is getting over it. When asked how Barack Obama has done so far, in terms of policy proposals and cabinet appointments, 30% of Canadians feel he has done an excellent job, while a further 42% think he has done a good job. One-in-ten (10%) characterized his actions thus far as fair, while almost no one (1%) said his actions have been poor since becoming the President-elect in November.

* Mr. Obama's job performance thus far is viewed favourably from coast to coast with strong majorities in all regions characterizing his actions thus far as being excellent or good.

* Support for Obama has been very high in Canada for months. In April Harris/Decima released a poll that showed Senator Obama ahead of both Senators Clinton and McCain in popularity. And in the midst of the Presidential election in early September, another poll saw Mr. Obama as the preferred choice over John McCain by a margin of 66%-13%.

According to Harris Decima Senior Vice-President Jeff Walker: "Like Americans, Canadians have set the bar very high for President-elect Obama, and so far there is no sense that the bloom has come of the rose" - "If anything, his efforts over the past couple of months have reinforced a belief that he can be the kind of President that many want him to be."

Each week, Harris/Decima interviews just over 1000 Canadians through teleVox, the company's national telephone omnibus survey. These data were gathered between January 15th and January 18th 2009. A sample of the same size has a margin of error of 3.1%, 19 times out of 20.

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