More Canadians believe Carney is on the wrong track than the right one, poll shows

A poll released by the Angus Reid Institute has revealed that Canadians are torn about Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first year in office. The poll covered a range of topics from Carney’s first year in power, including Canada’s international reputation, trade policy, Canada’s relationship with Donald Trump, ‘nation-building’ initiatives, election promises, affordability, and cost of living.

The poll surveyed 2,013 Canadians, and showed that the country believes Carney has been very successful in some areas, while he has failed to meet expectations in others. In April 2025, Mark Carney’s Liberal Party pulled off a stunning comeback, overcoming a massive 20-point deficit against Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives. The Liberals capped off the shocking victory with the news that Pierre Poilievre had failed to retain his own seat in the ‘safe’ Conservative riding of Carlton, Ontario.

The first question in the poll asked Canadians whether or not Carney had met expectations for improving Canada’s international reputation. Under Justin Trudeau, Canada’s relationship with global superpowers like China and India was seriously impacted, with both countries expressing their distaste for the leader.

Since his election, Carney has made those two countries a priority while creating partnerships with what he calls ‘middle powers’. Carney signed new deals with China and India, and has continued to have consistent communication with both superpowers. An impressive 64 per cent of Canadians polled claimed Carney had either met or exceeded his expectations.

While Carney signed new deals with China and India, he’s been focusing his trade communication with ‘middle powers’. Carney has been visiting and signing deals with Nordic countries, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, among other European nations. Mark Carney revealed the plan to the world during his speech at Davos on January 29.

The decision has gone over well with both Canadians and international markets. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sang Carney’s praises in February, claiming that: “With the international system under increasing pressure, we want to work together, and with our partners, to uphold and defend peace, security and prosperity”. Carney didn’t perform as well in this category amongst voters, but still boasted a 57 per cent approval rating. Carney didn’t perform well in the category rating his relationship with Trump, but still managed an approval rating of 56 per cent.

The final four categories are where Carney’s passing grade took a serious hit. During his campaign, Carney stressed his desire to undertake ‘nation-building initiatives’. His proposed initiatives included a new LNG pipeline, new nuclear programs, mineral mines, and, most importantly, government-funded houses. Unfortunately, very few of his proposed projects have begun, and the project Canadians were most looking forward to (government-built houses) has not seen any progress.

Carney launched the program ‘Build Canada Homes’ in September 2025, but construction has yet to start in any province. Carney’s goal is to build 500,00 homes annually, targeting 3 million new homes in the next six years. Only 11 per cent of Canadians believe Carney has exceeded expectations in ‘nation-building’, and 40 per cent believe he has failed to meet expectations.

With Carney failing to garner Canadians’ praise for his nation-building projects, it’s not surprising that Canadians are disappointed in his success in keeping election promises. ‘Build Canada Homes’ was arguably Carney’s biggest campaign promise.

He assured Canadians he would tackle housing affordability by building affordable, rent-controlled homes for families. Rent prices have increased nearly 40 per cent over the last ten years, and have risen dramatically since COVID. Only 34 per cent of polled Canadians believe Carney has met his election promises, and 41 per cent believe he has failed to meet expectations.

The final two categories for section one were closely related. Canadians were asked about Carney’s role in improving housing affordability and how successful he has been in reducing the cost of living for Canadians.

To say that Carney failed these categories would be an understatement. Only 18 per cent of polled Canadians believe Carney has met expectations to improve the affordability of housing in Canada, and 67 per cent believe he has failed. His reviews were even worse in regard to Canada’s cost of living. According to the poll, 70 per cent of Canadians believe Carney has failed to make Canada more affordable, and just 2 per cent believe he has exceeded his expectations. For a study that polled 2,013 Canadians, only 40 believed that Carney has succeeded in his mission of affordability.

While Carney’s grades were overall positive (he still boasts an approval rating of 58 per cent, though it has sunk 5 per cent over the last year), Canadians didn’t give him a vote of confidence.

Overall, 42 per cent of Canadians believe that Canada is on the wrong track after a year of Carney at the helm.

The Angus Reid Institute divided that statistic by voter base, breaking down the overall percentage. While an impressive 75 per cent of CPC voters believe Canada is on the wrong track, 64 per cent of Liberal Party voters believe the country is on the right track.

Where the vote becomes split is with NDP and BQ (Bloc Québécois) voters. With Carney passing stricter immigration laws, cutting the carbon tax, and taking a leaf out of the CPC’s book, 33 per cent of polled NDP supporters believe Canada is on the wrong track. BC voters were even harsher, with 39 per cent believing Canada is going down the wrong path.

It’s clear that Mark Carney has succeeded in some places and faltered in others. His problem is the areas he has failed to exceed expectations in, which are the issues at the forefront of Canadian’s minds.

Fifty-two per cent of Canadians believe reducing the cost of living should be Carney’s primary focus, blowing every other category out of the water.

The simple solution is to listen to voters. Carney spent his first year travelling the world, meeting with leaders, and trying to alleviate the pressure of Donald Trump’s tariff-driven trade war.

He succeeded, managing to sign deals with multiple countries in order to move away from American reliance. Now, he needs to turn his focus to Canada. With a 58 per cent approval rating and a newly formed majority government, Carney should be able to make progress on investments for affordability. It’s certainly the plan that he’s been advertising over the last 12 months.