Canadians kind of hate America now. Our new poll shows just how much.
Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Anna Wiederkehr
Thu, February 19, 2026
POLITICO
OTTAWA — It's the world's most awkward breakup.
More than a year after U.S. President Donald Trump casually joked about absorbing Canada and repeatedly threatened debilitating tariffs on its goods, many Canadians are convinced their former pals to the south have lost the plot.
New results from The POLITICO Poll suggest a lasting chill has settled over the world's former bosom buddies. Americans are rosy as ever about their northern neighbors, but Canadians don't share the love.
Their message to America: It's not us, it's you.
Canadians don't see Trump's America as merely an annoyance, the survey found. They consider the superpower next door the world's greatest threat to peacetime.
The POLITICO Poll — in partnership with U.K. polling firm Public First — finds Canadians increasingly view the United States as a source of global volatility instead of as a stabilizing ally.
In survey question after survey question, Canadians say the U.S. no longer reflects their values, is more likely to provoke conflict than to prevent it and, as a result, is pushing Canada to consider closer ties with other global powers — including overtures to China that would have seemed unthinkable only a couple of years ago.
Here's the Canada-U.S. schism explained in five charts.
The POLITICO Poll with Public First(Anna Wiederkehr/POLITICO)
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rose to power on a pledge to defend Canada from Trump. When the realities of a prolonged trade war set in, he promised to reduce Canada's reliance on its nearest neighbor.
Roughly three-quarters of Canadian exports find their way to U.S. customers. Carney has traveled the world in search of new partnerships with the European Union, China and Qatar. A new defense industrial strategy sets targets aimed at building up domestic production and buying overseas kit for the military only when necessary.
Carney put a finer point on his worldview with a headline-making rallying cry in Davos: In a world of great-power rivalry and fewer rules, middle powers need to band together.
The POLITICO Poll shows Carney's approach is popular at home.
Canadians were the most likely — among respondents in Canada, Germany, France and the U.K. — to say the U.S. is not a reliable ally (58 percent).
A slight 42 percent plurality of respondents from Canada go even further, saying the U.S. is no longer an ally of Canada. Only about one in three Canadians, 37 percent, said “The US is still an ally of Canada.”
Other results that reveal the extent of Canada's mistrust:
57 percent of Canadians in the poll said the U.S. cannot be depended on in a crisis.
67 percent say the U.S. "challenges" — as opposed to supports — its allies around the world.
69 percent agree the U.S. tends to create problems for other countries rather than solve them.
POLITICO Poll with Public First(Anna Wiederkehr/POLITICO)
Europeans see the greatest threat to world peace in their own backyard.
Slight majorities in the three European countries in the poll chose Russia, which upended the global order nearly four years ago with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as the largest threat: Germany (56 percent), France (55 percent) and the UK (53 percent).
Canadians are likewise worried about what's next door.
Almost half of Canadians point a finger at the U.S. — a 19-point lead over Russia, which took the next largest share (29 percent). A large plurality of Canadians (43 percent) see the U.S. as "mostly a threat" to global stability. Another 34 percent say Americans are "sometimes a force for stability, sometimes a threat."
Conservative voters agree that the U.S. is the top threat to peace — but only 35 percent of them. Another 30 percent picked Russia, followed by 22 percent who said China.
POLITICO Poll with Public First(Anna Wiederkehr/POLITICO)
More than two out of three Canadians believe Trump is actively seeking conflict with other countries.
Liberal voters who powered Carney's stunning victory last year — a rare fourth-consecutive win for the party — overwhelmingly see things that way. Progressive New Democrats are even likelier than the centrist governing party to hold that view.
But even Conservative voters, who broadly support close and enduring ties with Americans, have mixed feelings. A 57 percent majority say the U.S. president is looking around the world for a fight.
And that foreign intervention worries them, too: 47 percent of Canadians say U.S. involvement overseas makes the world less safe.
The POLITICO Poll with Public First(Anna Wiederkehr/POLITICO)
In the middle of the Covid pandemic, Canadians viewed Beijing with deep suspicion.
Chinese authorities had for more years imprisoned two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, on espionage charges.
Ottawa and Western allies widely viewed the so-called Two Michaels' prolonged detention as retaliation for Canada's arrest of Huawei exec Meng Wanzhou as part of an extradition request from Washington.
In 2021, several months before the Two Michaels were released, a Research Co. survey revealed a low point in Canadians' take on China: only 19 percent held a positive view.
The U.S. president’s torching of the relationship with Canada has flipped public opinion.
Forced to pick, a majority of Canadians (57 percent) now say they'd rather depend on China than Trump’s America.
Asked whether Canada should deliberately move closer to China, 39 percent agreed — with a majority of those respondents (60 percent) directly naming Trump as the reason to build bridges across the Pacific.
The POLITICO Poll with Public First(Anna Wiederkehr/POLITICO)
Any prolonged Canada-U.S. tension feels deeply personal to many border-town residents. The rivers and lakes and straight-line boundaries that divide the two countries were for decades just technicalities.
Ask a Canadian who grew up on the Ontario side of Niagara Falls, and they'll talk about going "over the river" — not across a border — to visit friends and family, go to work or have a night out.
But Canadian visits to the U.S. have dropped significantly since Trump's inauguration. Tourists are taking their money elsewhere. Snowbirds who flock annually to Florida and Arizona have found other sunny options.
A declining state of affairs has frayed countless deeply woven ties.
Still, respondents expressed some optimism about the future.
Forty-one percent of Canadians say Trump represents a lasting change. But nearly half (49 percent) said the relationship between the United States and Canada will recover in a post-Trump era.
A similar proportion of Canadians share that optimism across party lines: Liberal (51 percent), Conservative (50) and NDP (46).
But then there's the solid core of skeptics — 29 percent of the country is convinced there is no going back.
Carney won on an "elbows up" rallying cry that urged Canadians to stand up for themselves. Now they're reckoning with the everyday impact of a lasting cross-border rupture.
The country seems to have settled on a new maxim for now: America if necessary, but not necessarily America.
Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Anna Wiederkehr
Thu, February 19, 2026
POLITICO
OTTAWA — It's the world's most awkward breakup.
More than a year after U.S. President Donald Trump casually joked about absorbing Canada and repeatedly threatened debilitating tariffs on its goods, many Canadians are convinced their former pals to the south have lost the plot.
New results from The POLITICO Poll suggest a lasting chill has settled over the world's former bosom buddies. Americans are rosy as ever about their northern neighbors, but Canadians don't share the love.
Their message to America: It's not us, it's you.
Canadians don't see Trump's America as merely an annoyance, the survey found. They consider the superpower next door the world's greatest threat to peacetime.
The POLITICO Poll — in partnership with U.K. polling firm Public First — finds Canadians increasingly view the United States as a source of global volatility instead of as a stabilizing ally.
In survey question after survey question, Canadians say the U.S. no longer reflects their values, is more likely to provoke conflict than to prevent it and, as a result, is pushing Canada to consider closer ties with other global powers — including overtures to China that would have seemed unthinkable only a couple of years ago.
Here's the Canada-U.S. schism explained in five charts.
The POLITICO Poll with Public First(Anna Wiederkehr/POLITICO)
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rose to power on a pledge to defend Canada from Trump. When the realities of a prolonged trade war set in, he promised to reduce Canada's reliance on its nearest neighbor.
Roughly three-quarters of Canadian exports find their way to U.S. customers. Carney has traveled the world in search of new partnerships with the European Union, China and Qatar. A new defense industrial strategy sets targets aimed at building up domestic production and buying overseas kit for the military only when necessary.
Carney put a finer point on his worldview with a headline-making rallying cry in Davos: In a world of great-power rivalry and fewer rules, middle powers need to band together.
The POLITICO Poll shows Carney's approach is popular at home.
Canadians were the most likely — among respondents in Canada, Germany, France and the U.K. — to say the U.S. is not a reliable ally (58 percent).
A slight 42 percent plurality of respondents from Canada go even further, saying the U.S. is no longer an ally of Canada. Only about one in three Canadians, 37 percent, said “The US is still an ally of Canada.”
Other results that reveal the extent of Canada's mistrust:
57 percent of Canadians in the poll said the U.S. cannot be depended on in a crisis.
67 percent say the U.S. "challenges" — as opposed to supports — its allies around the world.
69 percent agree the U.S. tends to create problems for other countries rather than solve them.
POLITICO Poll with Public First(Anna Wiederkehr/POLITICO)
Europeans see the greatest threat to world peace in their own backyard.
Slight majorities in the three European countries in the poll chose Russia, which upended the global order nearly four years ago with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as the largest threat: Germany (56 percent), France (55 percent) and the UK (53 percent).
Canadians are likewise worried about what's next door.
Almost half of Canadians point a finger at the U.S. — a 19-point lead over Russia, which took the next largest share (29 percent). A large plurality of Canadians (43 percent) see the U.S. as "mostly a threat" to global stability. Another 34 percent say Americans are "sometimes a force for stability, sometimes a threat."
Conservative voters agree that the U.S. is the top threat to peace — but only 35 percent of them. Another 30 percent picked Russia, followed by 22 percent who said China.
POLITICO Poll with Public First(Anna Wiederkehr/POLITICO)
More than two out of three Canadians believe Trump is actively seeking conflict with other countries.
Liberal voters who powered Carney's stunning victory last year — a rare fourth-consecutive win for the party — overwhelmingly see things that way. Progressive New Democrats are even likelier than the centrist governing party to hold that view.
But even Conservative voters, who broadly support close and enduring ties with Americans, have mixed feelings. A 57 percent majority say the U.S. president is looking around the world for a fight.
And that foreign intervention worries them, too: 47 percent of Canadians say U.S. involvement overseas makes the world less safe.
The POLITICO Poll with Public First(Anna Wiederkehr/POLITICO)
In the middle of the Covid pandemic, Canadians viewed Beijing with deep suspicion.
Chinese authorities had for more years imprisoned two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, on espionage charges.
Ottawa and Western allies widely viewed the so-called Two Michaels' prolonged detention as retaliation for Canada's arrest of Huawei exec Meng Wanzhou as part of an extradition request from Washington.
In 2021, several months before the Two Michaels were released, a Research Co. survey revealed a low point in Canadians' take on China: only 19 percent held a positive view.
The U.S. president’s torching of the relationship with Canada has flipped public opinion.
Forced to pick, a majority of Canadians (57 percent) now say they'd rather depend on China than Trump’s America.
Asked whether Canada should deliberately move closer to China, 39 percent agreed — with a majority of those respondents (60 percent) directly naming Trump as the reason to build bridges across the Pacific.
The POLITICO Poll with Public First(Anna Wiederkehr/POLITICO)
Any prolonged Canada-U.S. tension feels deeply personal to many border-town residents. The rivers and lakes and straight-line boundaries that divide the two countries were for decades just technicalities.
Ask a Canadian who grew up on the Ontario side of Niagara Falls, and they'll talk about going "over the river" — not across a border — to visit friends and family, go to work or have a night out.
But Canadian visits to the U.S. have dropped significantly since Trump's inauguration. Tourists are taking their money elsewhere. Snowbirds who flock annually to Florida and Arizona have found other sunny options.
A declining state of affairs has frayed countless deeply woven ties.
Still, respondents expressed some optimism about the future.
Forty-one percent of Canadians say Trump represents a lasting change. But nearly half (49 percent) said the relationship between the United States and Canada will recover in a post-Trump era.
A similar proportion of Canadians share that optimism across party lines: Liberal (51 percent), Conservative (50) and NDP (46).
But then there's the solid core of skeptics — 29 percent of the country is convinced there is no going back.
Carney won on an "elbows up" rallying cry that urged Canadians to stand up for themselves. Now they're reckoning with the everyday impact of a lasting cross-border rupture.
The country seems to have settled on a new maxim for now: America if necessary, but not necessarily America.
John L. Micek
Thu, February 19, 2026
MASS. LIVE
Looks like all those “51st state” jokes and tariff threats have taken a toll as the U.S. and Canada have gone through the most awkward break-up in recent geopolitical memory.
Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) of Canadians say they no longer see the United States as a reliable ally after two centuries of cross-border partnership. And a plurality (48%) say we’re a bigger threat to peace than Vladimir Putin’s Russia, according to a new Politico poll published Thursday.
The poll, conducted with London-based Public First, tested the opinions of America’s closest allies. And after more than a year of bellicose rhetoric from Republican President Donald Trump’s White House, the relationship with the nation’s nearest northern neighbor is on shaky ground.
Indeed, 42% of respondents believe the United States is no longer an ally. Barely 1 in 3 (37%) said they consider the U.S. an ally of Canada.
More findings:
A clear majority of Canadians (57%) believe the country can no longer be depended on in a crisis.
More than two-thirds (67%) said the U.S. “challenges” rather than supports its allies around the world, according to the poll.
And nearly 7 in 10 (69%) agreed that the U.S. tended to create problems for other countries rather than solve them.
European respondents to the poll saw Russia as the bigger threat to their security: Germany (56%), France (55%) and the United Kingdom (53%).
The poll of 2,000 Canadians, conducted from Feb. 6 to Feb. 9, comes as officials in Massachusetts have sought to shore up relations with Canadian provincial leaders and to strengthen trade and economic partnerships.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, for instance, traveled to Nova Scotia, at a cost of $13,365 to city taxpayers, as she visited with leaders and to procure Boston’s annual Christmas tree.
Last summer, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey hosted a roundtable with Canadian provincial leaders and northeastern governors at the State House in Boston to talk trade, tariffs and Trump.
Thu, February 19, 2026
MASS. LIVE
Looks like all those “51st state” jokes and tariff threats have taken a toll as the U.S. and Canada have gone through the most awkward break-up in recent geopolitical memory.
Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) of Canadians say they no longer see the United States as a reliable ally after two centuries of cross-border partnership. And a plurality (48%) say we’re a bigger threat to peace than Vladimir Putin’s Russia, according to a new Politico poll published Thursday.
The poll, conducted with London-based Public First, tested the opinions of America’s closest allies. And after more than a year of bellicose rhetoric from Republican President Donald Trump’s White House, the relationship with the nation’s nearest northern neighbor is on shaky ground.
Indeed, 42% of respondents believe the United States is no longer an ally. Barely 1 in 3 (37%) said they consider the U.S. an ally of Canada.
More findings:
A clear majority of Canadians (57%) believe the country can no longer be depended on in a crisis.
More than two-thirds (67%) said the U.S. “challenges” rather than supports its allies around the world, according to the poll.
And nearly 7 in 10 (69%) agreed that the U.S. tended to create problems for other countries rather than solve them.
European respondents to the poll saw Russia as the bigger threat to their security: Germany (56%), France (55%) and the United Kingdom (53%).
The poll of 2,000 Canadians, conducted from Feb. 6 to Feb. 9, comes as officials in Massachusetts have sought to shore up relations with Canadian provincial leaders and to strengthen trade and economic partnerships.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, for instance, traveled to Nova Scotia, at a cost of $13,365 to city taxpayers, as she visited with leaders and to procure Boston’s annual Christmas tree.
Last summer, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey hosted a roundtable with Canadian provincial leaders and northeastern governors at the State House in Boston to talk trade, tariffs and Trump.
Canadians Trash Trump’s America as a Bigger Threat Than Russia
Martha McHardy
Thu, February 19, 2026
Nearly half of Canadians, 48 percent, ranked the United States as the biggest threat to world peace, compared with just 29 percent naming Russia. Sixty-nine percent of Canadian respondents said Trump is actively seeking conflict with other countries with no provocation.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
The survey results come as relations between the U.S. and Canada, historically close allies, have broken down since Trump began his second term.
Trump has floated the idea of annexing the country and making it the 51st U.S. state, and slapped tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, and automobiles.
The move sparked trade tensions, which Canada met with its own retaliation. Trump has most recently threatened to block the opening of a $4.6 billion bridge connecting Detroit, Michigan, with Windsor, Ontario, demanding the U.S. be given 50 percent ownership.
It is perhaps no surprise, then, that the poll shows a sharp decline in trust toward Washington, with 58 percent of Canadians saying the U.S. is not a reliable ally—the highest share among respondents in Canada, Germany, France, and the U.K.
Even more striking, 42 percent of Canadians said the U.S. is no longer an ally at all, while only 37 percent insisted the partnership remains intact.
The survey also highlights broader concerns about U.S. actions overseas following Trump’s operation in Venezuela and push to seize Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally: 43 percent of Canadians see the U.S. as “mostly a threat” to global stability, while another 34 percent say America is “sometimes a force for stability, sometimes a threat.”
President Donald Trump met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office of the White House, Oct. 7, 2025, in Washington. / The Washington Post / The Washington Post via Getty Im
Almost half, 47 percent, said U.S. involvement abroad actually makes the world less safe.
In response to the poll, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast: “The ultimate poll was November 5, 2024 when nearly 80 million Americans overwhelmingly elected President Trump to deliver on his popular and commonsense agenda.
“The President has already made historic progress not only in America but around the world. It is not surprising that President Trump remains the most dominant figure in American politics.”
Other surveys confirm that the U.S. is increasingly seen as a threat in Canada and beyond.
A Kekst CNC poll conducted earlier this month of 11,099 people across G7 nations found Canadians are now nearly as likely as Chinese respondents to view the U.S. as a danger to their country’s security.
Among all countries surveyed, Canadians showed the largest jump in perceived threat from Washington, from 29 percent in November, to 44 percent this month.
Meanwhile, YouGov European tracker data monitoring attitudes in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain from Jan. 9 to 27, showed that perceptions of the U.S. are the worst they have been since YouGov started tracking in 2016.
Despite these deep doubts, the POLITICO poll showed that Canadians remain cautiously optimistic about the post-Trump future.
About 49 percent said they expect U.S.-Canada relations to recover once a new administration takes office, though 29 percent remain convinced the damage is irreversible.
Martha McHardy
Thu, February 19, 2026
The Daily Beast
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images(BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI)
Donald Trump is now seen as a bigger threat to global peace than even Russia by some of America’s former allies.
A POLITICO Poll conducted Feb. 6–9 with over 2,000 respondents each from Canada, the U.K., France, and Germany, found Canadians are far more likely than Europeans to view the U.S. as a greater threat to global peace than Russia.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images(BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI)
Donald Trump is now seen as a bigger threat to global peace than even Russia by some of America’s former allies.
A POLITICO Poll conducted Feb. 6–9 with over 2,000 respondents each from Canada, the U.K., France, and Germany, found Canadians are far more likely than Europeans to view the U.S. as a greater threat to global peace than Russia.
Nearly half of Canadians, 48 percent, ranked the United States as the biggest threat to world peace, compared with just 29 percent naming Russia. Sixty-nine percent of Canadian respondents said Trump is actively seeking conflict with other countries with no provocation.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
The survey results come as relations between the U.S. and Canada, historically close allies, have broken down since Trump began his second term.
Trump has floated the idea of annexing the country and making it the 51st U.S. state, and slapped tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, and automobiles.
The move sparked trade tensions, which Canada met with its own retaliation. Trump has most recently threatened to block the opening of a $4.6 billion bridge connecting Detroit, Michigan, with Windsor, Ontario, demanding the U.S. be given 50 percent ownership.
It is perhaps no surprise, then, that the poll shows a sharp decline in trust toward Washington, with 58 percent of Canadians saying the U.S. is not a reliable ally—the highest share among respondents in Canada, Germany, France, and the U.K.
Even more striking, 42 percent of Canadians said the U.S. is no longer an ally at all, while only 37 percent insisted the partnership remains intact.
The survey also highlights broader concerns about U.S. actions overseas following Trump’s operation in Venezuela and push to seize Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally: 43 percent of Canadians see the U.S. as “mostly a threat” to global stability, while another 34 percent say America is “sometimes a force for stability, sometimes a threat.”
President Donald Trump met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office of the White House, Oct. 7, 2025, in Washington. / The Washington Post / The Washington Post via Getty Im
Almost half, 47 percent, said U.S. involvement abroad actually makes the world less safe.
In response to the poll, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast: “The ultimate poll was November 5, 2024 when nearly 80 million Americans overwhelmingly elected President Trump to deliver on his popular and commonsense agenda.
“The President has already made historic progress not only in America but around the world. It is not surprising that President Trump remains the most dominant figure in American politics.”
Other surveys confirm that the U.S. is increasingly seen as a threat in Canada and beyond.
A Kekst CNC poll conducted earlier this month of 11,099 people across G7 nations found Canadians are now nearly as likely as Chinese respondents to view the U.S. as a danger to their country’s security.
Among all countries surveyed, Canadians showed the largest jump in perceived threat from Washington, from 29 percent in November, to 44 percent this month.
Meanwhile, YouGov European tracker data monitoring attitudes in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain from Jan. 9 to 27, showed that perceptions of the U.S. are the worst they have been since YouGov started tracking in 2016.
Despite these deep doubts, the POLITICO poll showed that Canadians remain cautiously optimistic about the post-Trump future.
About 49 percent said they expect U.S.-Canada relations to recover once a new administration takes office, though 29 percent remain convinced the damage is irreversible.
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