The United States is Canada’s closest neighbour but our affection for the country has clearly taken a sharp decline since the Trump Presidency began. Presidents have an impact on how Canadians think about the U.S. When Bush was President, fewer Canadians held a favourable view of the U.S. compared with Obama.
Nevertheless, the decline is striking and profound. Only 39% of Canadians this spring held a positive or somewhat positive view. Trump’s trade war is the obvious candidate for driving favourability down though, perhaps, not the only thing. The rest of the world has also become less favourable.
Pew Research Center Global Attitudes Survey 2018. Survey was conducted by telephone between May 23 and June 21, 2018. Report.