The gap is unusually wide. In fresh national polling conducted from September 18 to 23, 2026, 48% of Canadians said Canada was headed in the right direction, while only 12% said the same about the United States. At the other end of the scale, 39% believed Canada was on the wrong track, compared with 81% who gave that assessment of the U.S.
Those numbers capture more than a simple comparison between two neighbouring countries. They arrive while Canadians remain concerned about affordability, jobs, trade and the broader global environment. The result is a public mood in which many Canadians are still dissatisfied with important conditions at home, yet view their own country’s trajectory considerably more positively than developments south of the border.
A 36-Point Gap Separates Views of Canada and the U.S.
The headline numbers come from an Abacus Data poll of 2,744 Canadian adults. Forty-eight per cent said Canada was headed in the right direction, compared with 39% who said it was on the wrong track. When the same question was asked about the United States, just 12% chose “right direction,” while 81% selected “wrong track.” That creates a 36-percentage-point difference between the two countries on the positive measure alone.
The result should not be interpreted as 48% of Canadians being satisfied with everything happening at home. “Right direction” questions are deliberately broad, allowing respondents to weigh the economy, leadership, foreign affairs, public services and personal circumstances differently. Still, the contrast is striking because the identical question was presented to the same national sample. Canadians were not overwhelmingly positive about Canada; fewer than half chose the optimistic response. They were simply far more positive about Canada than about the United States.
Canada’s Mood Has Improved, but Not in a Straight Line
Canada’s 48% figure represents an improvement from earlier points in the summer. In late July, Abacus found an even 42%-to-42% split between Canadians saying the country was headed in the right direction and those saying it was on the wrong track. By September 10, the firm’s right-direction measure had increased to 45%. It then reached 48% in the September 18-23 polling period, while the wrong-track share declined to 39%.
The longer trend has been less tidy. Abacus recorded 47% saying “right direction” in May, followed by weaker readings during June and July before sentiment recovered later in the summer. That matters because a single poll can make public opinion look more linear than it really is. The September number represents a recent upswing rather than an uninterrupted march toward greater optimism. For households still dealing with expensive groceries, housing costs or an uncertain job market, national confidence and personal financial confidence can also move in different directions.
The U.S. Reading Has Stayed Near the Bottom of the Scale
What makes the latest comparison especially notable is the persistence of Canadians’ negative assessment of the United States. Abacus recorded only 14% of Canadians saying the U.S. was headed in the right direction in its May 14-20 polling. That figure was 12% in early June, 13% around the beginning of July and 12% again in polling conducted from July 23 to 29. The newest September result remains at 12%.
The wrong-track numbers have been similarly consistent, generally sitting around four-fifths of respondents. That stability suggests the September result is not simply an isolated response to one headline or political event. It has been visible across several months of the same polling series. At the same time, the result measures Canadian perceptions of the direction of the United States. It is not a poll of Americans, nor does it establish how Canadians would answer questions about every individual U.S. policy, state, institution or political group.
Canadians Are Not Equally Optimistic About Their Own Country
The national average hides a meaningful regional spread. In the September polling, British Columbia recorded the highest right-direction figure for Canada at 54%. Saskatchewan and Manitoba were grouped together at 51%, as was Atlantic Canada. Ontario stood at 49%, Quebec at 46%, and Alberta recorded the lowest regional figure at 40%. The difference between British Columbia and Alberta was therefore 14 percentage points.
That variation is a useful reminder that there is no single Canadian political mood. A household in Calgary confronting economic uncertainty may view national conditions differently from one in Vancouver, Halifax or Toronto, even while all are answering the same question about Canada’s overall direction. Regional industries, housing markets, provincial politics and exposure to trade can shape how national conditions are experienced. Even so, the latest results show that right-direction sentiment reached at least 40% in every regional grouping measured by Abacus — considerably higher than the 12% national assessment Canadians gave the United States.
Feeling Better About Canada’s Direction Does Not Mean Cost Pressures Have Disappeared
One of the clearest cautions against overinterpreting the 48% figure appears elsewhere in the same poll. When Canadians were asked to choose the three most important issues facing the country, 63% selected the rising cost of living. That made affordability the leading concern by a substantial margin. Donald Trump and his administration were selected by 44%, the economy by 37%, healthcare by 31%, and housing affordability and accessibility by 27%.
In other words, a person can believe Canada is generally moving in a better direction while still feeling considerable pressure at the grocery store, when renewing a mortgage, or while searching for affordable housing. Public opinion rarely divides cleanly into “happy” and “unhappy” camps. The September results instead show overlapping attitudes: national optimism has improved, but day-to-day economic concerns remain dominant. That helps explain why Canada’s 48% right-direction reading is significant without amounting to a sweeping declaration that Canadians believe domestic problems have been solved.
Canada’s Economic Numbers Also Paint a Mixed Picture
Recent official economic data help explain that combination of relative optimism and continuing anxiety. Statistics Canada reported that consumer prices were 3.0% higher in August 2026 than a year earlier, matching July’s annual inflation rate. Grocery prices increased 2.8% year over year, slower than the overall Consumer Price Index and down from a 3.1% increase in July. Slower grocery inflation can ease the pace of price increases, but it does not reverse the cumulative increases households have already experienced.
The labour market was similarly mixed. Employment declined by 42,000 in August, while the national unemployment rate remained at 6.4%. Employment fell in several industries, although manufacturing added about 22,000 positions during the month. Average hourly wages were 2.0% higher than a year earlier. None of those indicators alone dictates how Canadians answer a broad national-direction question. Together, however, they illustrate why perceptions can improve even while economic insecurity remains part of everyday life for many households.
Canada-U.S. Tensions Are Now Part of the Domestic Issue Agenda
The United States is no longer merely a foreign-policy subject in Canadian public opinion. In the latest Abacus polling, 44% of respondents included Donald Trump and his administration among Canada’s three most important issues, placing the subject behind only the rising cost of living. That was higher than the share choosing healthcare, housing, immigration or job security. The finding indicates how deeply the bilateral relationship has entered Canada’s domestic political conversation.
Separate September polling from the Angus Reid Institute found Canadians divided over how much bargaining power Canada possesses in its trade dispute with Washington. Thirty-one per cent said Canada was in a strong negotiating position, 34% described it as weak, and 22% considered the two countries relatively evenly matched. At the same time, 73% preferred refusing difficult concessions even if bilateral relations deteriorated further, while 27% favoured a softer approach. Those findings provide context for the low U.S. direction rating, although they do not prove that trade tensions alone caused it.
Negative Views of U.S. Politics Do Not Translate Directly Into Rejection of Americans
Another important distinction appears when Canadians are asked specifically about American people. Angus Reid polling released in August found 45% of Canadians had a favourable view of Americans, while 48% viewed them unfavourably. Those figures are divided, but they look very different from the 12% who believe the United States as a country is headed in the right direction. The same Angus Reid research found a much more negative Canadian assessment of President Donald Trump, with 79% reporting an unfavourable view.
Other research points in a similar direction regarding the country’s image. Pew Research Center’s spring 2026 polling found 33% of Canadians held a favourable view of the United States. Pew also found 35% regarded the U.S. as a reliable partner, sharply lower than the 83% recorded in 2022. These questions measure different things, so their percentages should not be treated as interchangeable. Taken together, however, they show Canadian attitudes are more nuanced than a simple dislike of Americans.
Cross-Border Travel Shows Behaviour Can Move Differently From Opinion
Travel data offer another useful reality check. Statistics Canada reported that Canadians made about 2.8 million return trips from the United States in July 2026, an increase of 10.1% compared with July 2025. Automobile trips increased 12.6% year over year, while air travel edged up 0.6%, ending a lengthy run of annual declines. On the surface, those numbers might appear inconsistent with extremely negative assessments of America’s direction.
The longer comparison tells a different story. Despite the recent rebound, Canadian return trips from the United States remained 25.6% below their July 2024 level. Travel therefore appears to be recovering from particularly weak levels without returning to where it stood two years earlier. Families may still cross the border for shopping, vacations, sporting events or relatives even when they dislike U.S. policies or believe the country is moving in the wrong direction. Political sentiment can affect behaviour, but personal relationships, prices, convenience and longstanding travel habits matter too.
The Numbers Are Best Read as a Measure of Mood, Not a Verdict on Two Countries
The broader international result reinforces that point. Only 16% of respondents in the September Abacus poll said the world generally was headed in the right direction, while 71% said it was on the wrong track. The United States scored even lower at 12%, but Canadians were clearly expressing pessimism about international conditions more broadly. Canada’s 48% therefore stands out partly because respondents viewed the external environment much more negatively than conditions at home.
There are also methodological limits worth keeping in view. Abacus surveyed 2,744 Canadian adults through partner online panels on the PureSpectrum platform and weighted responses using census benchmarks for age, gender, education and region. The company says a probability sample of comparable size would carry a margin of error of about 1.87 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Because the respondents came from online panels rather than a conventional probability sample, that comparison should not be treated exactly like a traditional sampling-error estimate. Most importantly, “right direction” remains a broad sentiment measure. It captures mood — not agreement with every domestic policy, hostility toward Americans, or a prediction about either country’s future.
