A Postmedia-Leger poll released in early September 2026 found that 41 percent of Canadians now consider the United States an enemy country, compared with 22 percent who call it an ally and 22 percent who call it neutral. That is up 15 points from 26 percent in June 2025, and far above the 27 percent Leger recorded in February 2025, when the trade war was beginning and 30 percent of Canadians still called the United States an ally.
The hostility is strongest among older Canadians and in Quebec: 51 percent of those 55 and older, and 49 percent of Quebecers, said enemy. Younger Canadians were split, with 31 percent saying enemy and 31 percent neutral.
Leger vice-president Andrew Enns attributed the shift directly to the president. “Donald Trump, man, he can move public opinion like nobody's business,” he told the National Post. Enns said Trump's “really, really deliberate comments around Canada” over the summer had hardened into “a pretty broad sentiment across the country,” and that the number could climb if the administration keeps disparaging Canada. That week alone, Trump had attacked Canada on Truth Social, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had mocked the Canadian navy's aging submarine fleet, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been accused of body-shaming Canadian cadets. The renaming of Lake Ontario as “Lake America” in late August was cited by University of Toronto political scientist Brian Rathbun as a “classic example” of the kind of insult that “galls us more than softwood lumber tariffs” because “it's indicative of a lack of respect.”
The poll also found that most Canadians still separate the country from its president: 64 percent said their impression of the United States would change if Trump left office, while 21 percent said it would not. Rathbun warned the damage may outlast him: “Canadians will start to get frustrated if this persists, even if it's not what the American public wants,” and could conclude the problem “couldn't be fixed by kicking this guy out.”
On the substance of the trade war, 87 percent of Canadians expect Trump's tariffs to hurt their personal finances, 38 percent are worried about losing their job in the next 12 months, and 74 percent back Ottawa's new countermeasures on $27.6 billion in U.S. goods that took effect September 8, even though 78 percent expect them to raise Canadian prices. Eighty-five percent oppose Canada becoming the 51st state. The share of Canadians who say they are “very proud” to be Canadian rose to 56 percent, up 11 points since June and up from 40 percent in 2024.
Leger surveyed 1,552 Canadians online from August 28 to 31, 2026; a probability sample of that size would carry a margin of error of plus or minus 2.48 points, 19 times out of 20. For the actions driving the numbers, see Trump Revives His '51st State' Taunt at Canada After It Slips Into a Technical Recession, Trump Slaps 50 Percent Tariffs on Most Canadian Goods Over Alcohol, Dairy, and Auto Disputes, Trump Orders "No More Selling Bombardier in the United States," and Republicans From Bombardier States Push Back and State Department Officials Met Three Times With a Group Campaigning to Break Alberta Away From Canada.