Carney Government Entered Summer with Broad Support
A majority of Canadians are satisfied with the performance of the federal government, and Carney and the Liberal party both lead their Conservative rivals according to INNOVATIVE’s tracking.
These results come from an online poll conducted between June 5th and June 30th, 2025, of 4,029 Canadian citizens, 18 years or older. This survey was sponsored by INNOVATIVE Research Group Inc. and weighted to n=3,000 based on age, gender, region, education, and self-reported past federal vote to ensure the overall sample reflects the population according to Census data.
A majority (52%) of Canadians report being satisfied with the performance of the federal government in June. This continues an upward trend that started in March, following Mark Carney’s victory in the Liberal leadership race. Carney is well ahead as the preferred Prime Minister, with 43% seeing him as the best choice for PM, 13 points ahead of Poilievre. Neither leader’s image has changed significantly from late May. Carney enjoys broad appeal, with backing across all age groups (particularly older 56%), all education levels (particularly university-educated 61%).
Perhaps even better for the Prime Minister, when asked if Mr. Carney’s changes are going in the right direction a majority of Canadians (56%) agree that they are.
Looking at the government’s signature piece of legislation this spring, we see that Canadians generally support Bill C-5 but engagement is low and there are concerns over Indigenous rights and centralization. The Prime Minister heard about the former at length in person on Thursday July 17 in meetings with the Assembly of First Nations. Overall, 43% support Bill C-5 while only 12% oppose it. Crucially, however, only 39% of Canadians report being familiar with Bill C-5 – meaning that there is every possibility those numbers can shift if more people engage.
We see further good news for Mr. Carney when tracking the government’s Read, Seen, Heard: exposure slightly boosts Prime Minister and the federal government’s favourability. Among those recently exposed to federal government or PM-related news (45%), 52% report feeling more favourable. Although overall exposure is declining, Carney’s visibility at international events and on trade issues has improved his net favourability to 31%. Key topics driving impact include tariffs, Trump, the G7 summit, and Bill C-5.
The wild card is, unsurprisingly, the issues arising from managing Canada’s relationship with the United States. While the federal government’s approval continues to rise, 23% now say they don’t know how to assess the government’s performance on Trump-related issues (15 points up from the previous wave). This growing uncertainty regarding the Canada-US relationship contrasts with rising domestic approval. We will be watching closely to see if Carney’s admission last week that tariffs will likely be a reality of any eventual deal impacts his image.
