One of the world’s closest cross-border relationships is becoming noticeably less warm from the Canadian side. Fresh Angus Reid Institute findings show 48% of Canadians now hold an unfavourable view of the American people, narrowly exceeding the 45% who remain favourable. South of the border, the mood could hardly be more different: 79% of Americans still view Canadians favourably.
The imbalance comes after months of tariff battles, threats against Canadian trade and heightened political friction with Washington. Yet the numbers also reveal something more complicated than simple anti-American sentiment. Canadians appear to distinguish sharply between Americans themselves and the administration governing them, while age and political affiliation are increasingly shaping how the relationship is perceived.
A Cross-Border Friendship With Two Different Temperatures
The headline numbers show a relationship that feels strikingly different depending on which side of the border is answering. Among Canadians, 45% have a favourable view of the American people while 48% have an unfavourable one, leaving the country almost evenly divided. Only 13% describe their opinion as “very favourable.” By comparison, 79% of Americans have a favourable opinion of Canadians, including 39% who say their feelings are very favourable. Just 7% of Americans hold an unfavourable view.
That warmth is not unique to the Angus Reid findings. Gallup reported earlier in 2026 that 80% of Americans viewed Canada favourably. Remarkably, that was considered a weak result by historical standards: Gallup said it was the lowest rating for Canada in its long-running measurements, after years in which Canadian favourability frequently hovered around 90%. In other words, American enthusiasm for Canada has softened somewhat, but it remains substantially stronger than Canadian feelings travelling in the opposite direction.
Trump Is Far Less Popular Than the American People
The distinction between Americans and their government becomes especially clear when President Donald Trump is added to the equation. Angus Reid found 79% of Canadians have an unfavourable opinion of Trump, including 69% whose opinion is “very unfavourable.” That is dramatically more negative than Canadians’ assessment of Americans themselves, where 19% fall into the very unfavourable category. The difference suggests much of the anger generated by the current dispute remains concentrated on Washington rather than being applied universally to individual Americans.
Other research points in the same direction. Pew Research Center found only 33% of Canadians held a favourable view of the United States as a country in 2026, down from 57% in 2023. China, at 44%, actually received a higher favourable rating among Canadians than the U.S. in Pew’s latest international research. Those numbers measure countries rather than their citizens, an important distinction. Taken together, however, the findings indicate that political trust and affection for the United States have deteriorated faster than Canadians’ feelings toward ordinary Americans.
Political Affiliation Is Reshaping Canadian Attitudes
There is no single Canadian opinion of Americans anymore. Angus Reid found a particularly large partisan divide, with 70% of Canadians who voted Conservative in the 2025 federal election holding a favourable view of the American people. Among Liberal voters, that figure falls to 30%. It is even lower among NDP voters at 28% and Bloc Québécois voters at 27%. Conservatives are therefore more than twice as likely as supporters of several other major parties to view Americans positively.
Age creates another revealing divide. Among Canadians aged 55 and older, 52% view Americans favourably, making them the only age group where positive feelings clearly outweigh negative ones. Among those aged 18 to 34, favourable opinion drops to just 31%, while 60% hold an unfavourable view. Canadians aged 35 to 54 are almost perfectly divided, with 46% favourable and 46% unfavourable. What was once largely treated as a stable national relationship is increasingly being filtered through generation, domestic politics and attitudes toward the Trump administration.
Americans Remain Positive Across Party Lines
American politics produces divisions over Canada, but not enough to erase broad affection for Canadians. Democrats are overwhelmingly positive, with 92% holding a favourable view of Canadian people. Among Republicans who do not identify with the MAGA movement, 73% are favourable. Even among self-described MAGA Republicans — the political group most aligned with Trump’s approach — 69% view Canadians positively while just 17% view them unfavourably.
Age makes relatively little difference to the overall conclusion. Favourable opinion of Canadians stands at 71% among Americans aged 18 to 34, rises to 79% among those aged 35 to 54 and reaches 85% among people 55 and older. Gallup has detected more political erosion when Americans are asked about Canada as a country: Republican favourability fell to 62% in early 2026 from 85% a year earlier, while Democratic favourability remained at 95%. Even after that steep Republican decline, however, a clear majority remained positive toward Canada. Political disagreements have therefore weakened the relationship without producing widespread American hostility toward Canadians.
Canadians Increasingly See the U.S. as a Potential Threat
The biggest change may not be personal affection at all, but the way Canadians believe Ottawa should deal with Washington. In February 2023, 73% said the Canadian government should approach the United States either on friendly terms or as a valued partner and ally. Only 7% considered the U.S. an enemy or potential threat. By July 2026, just 26% favoured the friendly-or-partner approach, while 42% placed the United States in the enemy-or-potential-threat category. Another 29% said Ottawa should proceed cautiously.
The American perspective is almost the mirror image. Angus Reid found 78% of Americans believe their government should approach Canada either as a valued partner or on friendly terms. Pew has documented a similar collapse in Canadian institutional trust: 83% of Canadians regarded the United States as a reliable partner in 2022, compared with only 35% in 2026. That shift matters because it goes beyond whether Canadians like American culture, cities or neighbours. It reflects growing doubts about the predictability of the bilateral relationship itself.
The Tariff Fight Matters Much More to Canadians
One reason for the asymmetry is simple: Canadians are paying considerably more attention to the trade confrontation. Angus Reid found 54% of Canadians were following the latest tariff threats closely and another 37% had heard at least something about them. Combined, 91% were aware of the issue. Among Americans, only 23% were following closely and 46% had heard a little, while one-quarter said they had not heard about the latest threats at all.
That attention gap is understandable given Canada’s economic dependence on cross-border commerce. Ottawa’s preparations for the 2026 CUSMA review have drawn thousands of submissions from businesses, industry groups, workers, governments and individuals concerned about maintaining predictable North American market access. Integrated industries including autos, agriculture, energy and manufacturing can feel trade disruptions quickly. For many Americans, the Canada dispute competes with a much larger range of domestic and international issues. For Canadian businesses and communities dependent on U.S. customers, however, another tariff announcement can have immediate consequences for orders, investment decisions and jobs.
Americans Can Like Canadians While Supporting Tougher Trade Policies
Positive feelings toward Canadians do not automatically translate into agreement over trade. Overall, 59% of Americans opposed Trump’s latest threatened tariffs on Canadian goods, compared with 24% who supported them. But partisan differences were enormous. Among MAGA Republicans, 71% supported the tariff measures. Non-MAGA Republicans were much more divided, with 34% supporting and 40% opposing them, while 89% of Democrats were opposed.
There was also considerable uncertainty about whether the latest threats would actually become policy. Forty-two per cent of Canadians believed Trump was serious and would follow through, compared with 32% who thought he was bluffing. Americans were almost evenly divided: 37% expected him to follow through and 33% expected a bluff, while 30% were unsure. As the Angus Reid findings were released on August 10, Canada and the United States were still discussing possible concessions ahead of an August 19 tariff deadline. Reuters reported that negotiations included Canadian and American trade demands, with officials continuing discussions but no guarantee of an agreement.
The Political Chill Has Already Changed Travel Behaviour
Public opinion is not the only indication that the relationship has changed. Statistics Canada found Canadian-resident return border crossings from the United States fell 25.4% in 2025 compared with 2024. Excluding the pandemic period, the 11-month streak of year-over-year declines was the deepest and most sustained on record since digital border-crossing records began in 1972. Canadian spending on U.S. trips also declined by $3.3 billion to $18.8 billion during 2025, while Canadians increasingly redirected leisure travel toward domestic and overseas destinations.
There are signs of stabilization rather than an endless decline. Preliminary Statistics Canada figures showed 1.75 million Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S. by automobile and air in June 2026, up 3.2% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, U.S.-resident trips to Canada reached 2.2 million that month, up 5.1% and marking a fifth consecutive year-over-year increase. The Angus Reid results, based on 2,199 Canadian adults and 1,000 American adults, therefore capture a relationship in transition: people-to-people goodwill remains substantial, especially in the United States, but Canadian trust in the broader relationship has become considerably more fragile.
