March 10, 2025 — Mark Carney begins his time as Prime Minister with a big brand advantage over Pierre Poilievre on the question dominating Canadian politics at the moment: Who do you trust to deal with Donald Trump? On this, 47% of Canadians trust Carney to deal with Trump, compared to 33% who trust Poilievre.
Carney also holds large leads over Poilievre when it comes to the economy (Carney 50%, Poilievre 32%) and the cost of living (Carney 40%, Poilievre 32%). And while Poilievre had established himself as the change option in Canadian politics over the past two years, more Canadians feel that Carney would “bring about the type of change we need” than feel Poilievre would (39% vs. 32%).
Trust in Carney on these issues is driven by brand advantages he holds on key leadership attributes. Notably, Carney leads Poilievre by 14 points on “competent” (Carney 53%, Poilievre 39%) and by 13 points on “can handle difficult situations” (Carney 48%, Poilievre 35%).
However, the gap between them is much smaller on attributes that speak to relatability. Carney leads by just 2 points on “cares about people like me” (Carney 32%, Poilievre 30%) and by 1 point on “understands what people like me are going through” (Carney 32%, Poilievre 31%).
See the full list in our report.
