By Tom Parkin
March 6th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
More than a third of Conservatives don’t want Canada to retaliate against Trump’s tariff attack.
Donald Trump today launched an economic war on Canadians and has pledged to annex Canada as the 51st state, but a third of Conservatives think Donald Trump is pretty darn swell, according to an Angus Reid Institute poll released this morning.
Among Conservatives, 32 per cent have a favourable view of the U.S. president. Only six, three, and two per cent of Liberals, New Democrats, and BQ supporters, respectively, have a favourable opinion of Trump.
Among non-Conservative Canadians, a very unfavourable view of Trump is near-unanimous, held by 89 per cent of Liberals, 94 per cent of New Democrats and 92 per cent of BQ supporters.
Views on top White House oligarch Elon Musk almost exactly echo the pattern found in favourability of the president.
Over a third of Conservatives supporters oppose economic retaliation against Trump’s attacks
The Angus Reid polls also shows a deep divide between MAGA and mainstream Conservatives on retaliation against Trump, creating an uncomfortable situation for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, whose party support has fallen about 10 points over the last eight weeks as Trudeau departs and Trump arrives.
Conservative support down 10 points since Poilievre-Peterson ramblefest.
Among Conservative voters, 37 per cent oppose retaliatory tariffs, 37 per cent oppose banning critical exports to the United States and 37 per cent oppose a ban on Telsa sales. Among Liberal and NDP supporters, opposition to those measures are in the teens or even single digits.
Although responses on Trump and retaliation are starkly divided between Conservative voters and others, views on what constitutes a win from this battle are very similar. For all Canadians, 61 per cent say it’ll be a win when Trump removes the 25 per cent tariffs, with only four or five per cent saying getting the tariffs lowered is a win. Many say there is no win.
Is Poilievre the one to make the peace?
Pierre Poilievre: Leader of the Conservative Party in Canada
Donald Trump has shown it’s easy for any fool to start a war. It’s much more difficult to end one.
In the case of the real, hot war in Ukraine, Trump seized the opportunity to extort critical minerals from a country under Russian attack and called it a peace plan.
In Canada’s case, while thankfully no bullets are flying, Trump plays both the attacker and the extortionist. As he continues his attack and Canadians feel the pain, expect Trump to make an “extortionist’s peace offer,” which will be far less than what Canadians say is a win.
Very likely this economic war will continue past the next election and the words of leaders and the mandate from voters will be far more important than usual.
For now, Pierre Poilievre, who comes with a significant minority within his ranks who favour Trump and never wanted retaliation, looks like a bad pick to decide the peace.
Yes, Pierre Poilievre is a professional politician, but better that than an amateur leading us. Mark Carney’s claim that as a federal bank regulator he lead both Canada & Great Britain out of a crisis is a significant exaggeration. Were there not elected governments in charge at the time? Regardless, Poilievre has picked up on key issues such as affordability/ inflationary carbon tax for Canadians far in advance of the governing Liberals/ NDPs, and hopefully he will be able to anticipate (and avert) Trump’s future moves (if anyone can). Time will tell.
Curiosity compelled me to go to the Angus Reid Institute website to see how this “survey” was conducted. Here is a direct quote on the survey methodology:
“The Angus Reid Institute conducted an online survey from February 27 – March 3, 2025, among a representative randomized sample of 2,005 Canadian adults who are members of Angus Reid Forum.”
https://angusreid.org/canada-federal-election-vote-carney-freeland-poilievre-trudeau/
So, to be clear: the survey is 2,005 Canadians who have voluntarily registered to participate in a survey through the Angus Reid Institute that, presumably, one had to initially apply to join, and were then accepted, or not. It is not a survey of 2,005 Canadians who were contacted randomly by a telephone canvasser of ordinary citizens at large. It’s a subset within a subset within a subset.
To make an inference as sweeping as the title implies strains credulity. The only people I know who, after the last two weeks, could still possibly support Trump or Musk, are folks wearing tinfoil hats who adhere to conspiracy theories, subscribe to Truth Social, and probably supported the Capitol Hill riots on January 6th, 2021. Most Tories I know, and I’m one, think Trump and Musk are both six bottles short of a two four. Elect clowns, and the circus soon follows!
A lot of conservative cope here. Go Justin!!
I doubt that Poilievre will side with the MINORITY of the conservative party rather than the majority….if that’s your suggestion!
Editor’s note: It wasn’t my suggestion – it was the opinion of the writer.
Wow I hope people realize that this is one person’s opinion. Most likely that of a Liberal Party supporter. I don’t believe that the rhetoric playing out in the media is helping anything. What’s the current strategy, who can look the angriest and threaten the most in front of the cameras? How’s that working so far? It’s not! Hopefully the adults in the room can all sit down and hammer out a viable deal away from the cameras. I think that Pierre Poilievre would be an excellent person to negotiate on behalf of Canadians.
Actually, if you look closely at these polls, Conservative support has held fairly steady in the low 40% range (the latest Leger poll had them at 43%. However, the resurgence in Liberal support is almost entirely matched by a serious decline in NDP support; it appears that Singh’s obsequious support of Justin Trudeau is about to be rewarded with a further erosion in NDP seats in the House of Commons–true poetic justice! And from what I see of Carney, he is a technocrat who I doubt will be able to withstand the withering scrutiny he is about to undergo as the federal election kicks into gear.