July 19, 2024 – Today, Pollara Strategic Insights released From Eh to Zee – our report comparing Canadian and American opinions on countries and leaders around the world.
Jampacked with interesting details – including results by political party supporters – the study reveals that residents of both countries hold Great Britain, Japan, Germany, France, and South Korea in similarly high esteem, while being similarly divided on Mexico. Canadians and Americans are also clearly negative towards both Russia and China.
- Notably, Canada is viewed far better by Americans than vice versa. Three-quarters (75%) of our southern neighbours view Canada positively – just 12% hold a negative view. Comparatively, half of Canadians (53%) view America positively, and 40% hold overall negative views.
- Moreover, Canada is the most positively-viewed country amongst Americans, whereas Canadians are more positively oriented towards six other countries (Great Britain, Japan, Germany, France, Ukraine, and South Korea) than America.
- Canadians have a notably more positive view of Ukraine than Americans. Conversely, a slim plurality of Americans have positive views of Israel and India, while Canadians are clearly negative on both at the moment.
Amongst Canadians familiar with each world leader, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the most highly regarded (73% positive), followed by the positively-viewed leaders of Japan, Mexico, Germany, France, and South Korea. Amongst Americans familiar with each world leader, between half to six-in-ten hold positive impressions of the leaders of Japan, Mexico, Ukraine, France, Canada, Great Britain, South Korea, Israel, Germany, and India.
Majorities of Canadians hold negative impressions of Putin, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, and Indian leader Narendra Modi. In the United States, large majorities hold negative impressions of Putin (81%) and Jinping (71%).
- Justin Trudeau is far more popular south of the 49th parallel than in his own country. Six-in-ten (58%) Canadians hold a negative impression of Trudeau – who enjoys an opposite impression amongst Americans (62% positive) familiar with him.
- Canadians hold notably different views of Trump (75% negative) and Biden (57% positive), whereas Americans are split in their views on these Presidents, largely on partisan lines.
For more details, including results by partisan voter segments in both countries, please see our report.
If you are interested in monitoring and tracking how Canadians feel about an extensive range of countries, states, and multilateral organizations – with in-depth explorations of attitudes towards China, India, Israel, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine, Hamas, and the United States, UN, G7, NATO, and WEF – subscribe to our new syndicated study Geopolitical Reputations in Canada. For more information on this study, read our prospectus. See coverage in the Toronto Star.
