Trump Didn’t Just Pick a Fight With Canada. Something Changed in the People Listening.
Canada is still liked by most Americans. But a remarkable new Gallup poll shows that how Americans see us increasingly depends on which political tribe they’re standing in.
I’m 74 year-old… and for most of my life, Canadians didn’t spend much time
wondering whether Americans liked us.
Of course they did.
We were the neighbours who shared their border, bought their products, supplied their energy, fought beside them and occasionally reminded them that hockey is played on ice rather than in a shopping mall.
Then something changed.
And Gallup just put numbers on it.
In February 2026, 80% of Americans said they had a favourable opinion of Canada.
That sounds pretty damn good.
Until you look backward.
Canada’s favourable rating was 89% just one year earlier.
Historically, Canada and Great Britain have regularly occupied the top of Gallup’s rankings of countries Americans view favourably.
Not anymore.
Japan now sits at 85%.
Italy is at 84%.
Canada is tied with Denmark at 80%.
But even that isn’t the real story.
Look underneath the 80%
Break the Canadian number down by American political affiliation and something extraordinary appears.
Among Democrats:
95% view Canada favourably.
Among independents:
80%.
Among Republicans:
62%.
That’s a 33-point canyon between Democrats and Republicans over what they think of Canada.
And here’s the number that stopped me.
Just one year earlier, 85% of Republicans viewed Canada favourably.
Now it’s 62%.
That’s a 23-point collapse in a single year.
Canada didn’t suddenly move.
We didn’t invade Montana.
We didn’t steal Alaska back.
We didn’t replace the bald eagle with a Canada goose, although frankly the goose has the temperament for the job.
Something happened in American politics.
Canada became part of the argument
Donald Trump has spent considerable political oxygen attacking Canada and its relationship with the United States.
Tariffs.
Trade grievances.
Claims that America has been treated unfairly.
Complaints about defence.
Repeated talk about Canada becoming the 51st state.
Canada stopped being merely America’s neighbour and became part of an American political narrative.
Now look again at Gallup’s numbers.
Republican favourability toward Canada: 62%.
Democratic favourability: 95%.
Independent favourability: 80%.
That doesn’t prove one politician single-handedly changed millions of minds.
Polling can’t tell us that.
But Gallup itself points toward the political environment.
It notes that Republicans are inclined to support the United States when governed by a president from their own party and that Canada and Britain are currently governed by parties politically opposed to some of Trump’s actions.
In other words, politics doesn’t stop at the border anymore.
It colours how people see the countries on the other side of it.
Britain got clobbered too
Canada isn’t alone.
Only 76% of Americans now view Great Britain favourably, another Gallup low.
Among Democrats, Britain scores 89%.
Among Republicans?
64%.
Again, the country didn’t suddenly relocate.
The political lens changed.
And that’s what makes this poll important.
Here’s what I don’t want Canadians to do
Don’t turn this into…
Americans hate us.
They don’t.
Four out of five Americans still view Canada favourably.
Ninety-five percent of Democrats do.
Eighty percent of independents do.
Even among Republicans, a clear majority… 62%… still view Canada favourably.
That’s important because there’s enough bullshit flying around already without Canadians manufacturing some of our own.
The interesting question isn’t whether Americans suddenly hate Canadians.
They don’t.
The question is how one of America’s oldest and least controversial friendships became politically polarized.
Because once that can happen to Canada, political messaging is doing something much larger than arguing over tariffs.
It’s shaping how people see the outside world.
There’s another warning buried in these numbers
Republican opinion isn’t the only number Canadians should watch.
Independent support for Canada fell from 89% to 80% in one year.
That’s nine points.
Independents aren’t Trump’s Republican base.
They’re the middle.
And whenever political narratives begin escaping the committed base and reaching people who don’t wear a party jersey, they’re worth paying attention to.
Not panicking over.
Not exaggerating.
Paying attention to.
There’s a difference.
Canada doesn’t need America to love us
I’ve become increasingly convinced that Canadians need to stop measuring ourselves through Washington’s eyes anyway.
We need good relations with Americans.
We should want mutually beneficial trade.
We should remain friends with the millions of Americans who remain our friends.
But Canada doesn’t need to audition for approval.
We’re a sovereign country.
We make our own decisions.
We choose our own governments.
And Americans are perfectly entitled to dislike those decisions.
That’s democracy.
What Canadians shouldn’t accept is the idea that disagreement somehow makes us an enemy.
Especially when political rhetoric starts teaching ordinary people to see a longtime friend differently.
Because that may be the most important lesson in these Gallup numbers.
Countries don’t suddenly change overnight.
Sometimes the story people are repeatedly told about them does.
And eventually, some people start believing the story.
The Recap…
Gallup says 80% of Americans still view Canada favourably.
But look underneath that number.
Democrats: 95%.
Independents: 80%.
Republicans: 62%.
Republican favourability toward Canada dropped 23 points in one year.
Canada didn’t suddenly change.
The American political conversation about Canada did.
The Gut-Punch…
The dangerous part of propaganda isn’t that everybody believes it.
It’s how many people eventually do.
Source Credit
Primary data: Gallup, Americans’ Views of Canada, Great Britain Drop to New Lows, published March 12, 2026, based on Gallup’s February 2026 polling.
Original creator transcript supplied as research notes and used as a lead only. Statistics and factual claims checked against Gallup’s published polling.
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I suspect that at least a bunch of those on the R side of our (US) aisle live in those places most hurt by loss of sales to Canadians (alcohol, travel), so they pile up that plus the costs of the pus sac's tariffs and war and decide it's all because Canadians stopped doing business with them. (That's a pretty easy sell to a lot of them.) I'm sorry our idiot has hurt your reputation here, but I'm hoping we'll restock our legislature with folks who are willing to try to make some changes that will be good for all of us.
My father always said we dont hate. I said can I use the word abhor lol. I want to be calm and happy in my later years.