Who's afraid of Donald Trump winning next week's U.S. presidential election? Almost 90 per cent of British Columbians, for starters.

That's according to a new poll from Insights West, which found a whopping 80 per cent of people across Canada worry a Trump presidency south of the border would be bad news here at home.

Pollster Mario Canseco said they've been tracking opinions about Trump since August 2015, when the idea of him becoming the president "sounded like a joke," and concerns have only grown since then.

"At the time 62 per cent of Canadians said they thought he would be bad for Canada if he won the election," Canseco said. "So the more we get to know Trump, the more worried we are."

While Canadians used to be concerned about the candidate's lack of experience, given that he's never held any kind of public office, they're shifting more toward concerns about his actual ideas, according to Canseco.

"It was his statements about Muslims, about Mexicans, about women. The more we hear about the things he says and the things he feels about the world, the more worried we become," he said.

By comparison, only about a third of poll respondents said a Hillary Clinton presidency would be bad for Canada. Forty-two per cent expected it to be good for the country, and just over three-quarters felt a Clinton victory would mark a historic milestone for women in the world.

Overall, Insights West found the level of Canadian engagement in the U.S. election to be "extraordinary." Nearly 70 per cent of those polled said they've seen, read or heard media stories where U.S. presidential candidates discussed their positions, and just over 60 per cent watched them debate.

The survey turned up interesting opinions about what should become of U.S.-Canadian relations under Trump as well. A third of respondents said Canada should seriously consider severing diplomatic ties with our American neighbours if they elect the businessman and former reality TV star, a drastic move given that they're our largest trading partner by a wide margin.

"They really believe if Trump wins the election America is going to change so rapidly and so wildly that we should seriously consider not talking to them," Canseco said.

The online survey was conducted from Oct. 24 to 26 among a representative sample of 1,005 Canadian adults. Polls of that size have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's Shannon Paterson