Toronto: Prime Minister Mark Carney is receiving a political boost at home as Canada answers Washington’s latest tariffs with its own countermeasures. The trade conflict is likely to cause economic pain on both sides of the border, but in Ottawa the immediate political winds are moving in the prime minister’s favour, driven mainly by the hard line his government has taken against the Trump administration.

The Angus Reid Institute (ARI) released a survey on Tuesday showing that 62% of Canadians approve of Carney’s performance. That is an increase of 11 percentage points from August and brings him close to the 63% support he recorded in April, during an earlier and particularly intense phase of the trade dispute. The new numbers reinforce the idea that Carney is enjoying what commentators in Canada have begun to call a “Trump bump.”

Key facts at a glance

• 62% of Canadians approve of Carney’s performance, up 11 points from August.
• 73% say Canada should refuse difficult concessions even if it means worsening trade relations with the United States.
• Three in four respondents support Carney’s decision to walk away from negotiations with Washington late last month.
• 34% describe Canada’s negotiating position as weak, 31% say it is strong, and 22% say the two sides are evenly matched.
• Canada has matched CA$27.6 billion (US$20.04 billion) in US tariffs with retaliatory tariffs dollar-for-dollar.

Poll points to a “Trump bump”

The term “Trump bump” has become a fixture in Canadian political commentary since the start of the tariff conflict. It describes the tendency of Canadian prime ministers and political leaders to gain support when they are seen to be standing up to Washington. The ARI poll released Tuesday is one of the clearest examples so far of that dynamic in Carney’s case. His approval rating had fallen from its April peak during the summer, but the latest survey suggests that the confrontation with the White House has reshaped public opinion.

The poll found that 73% of respondents believe Canada should refuse difficult concessions, even if doing so makes trade relations with the United States worse. That finding crosses several demographic and regional lines and suggests that Canadians, regardless of their broader political leanings, are in no mood for a settlement that appears one-sided. A separate question found that roughly three-quarters of Canadians support Carney’s decision to walk away from negotiations with the US late last month. For Carney, this is an important political asset: it allows him to argue that walking away was not a diplomatic mistake but a reflection of Canadian public sentiment.

Support for a hard line is not the same as optimism

While Canadians are largely united in supporting the government’s firm posture, the poll also reveals an undercurrent of anxiety about Canada’s ability to compete in a trade fight with a much larger economy. Just over a third of respondents, 34%, said Canada is in a weak negotiating position. That was three points higher than the share who said Canada is strong, while 22% said the two countries are evenly matched. The remaining respondents were unsure. The numbers suggest that many Canadians expect economic turbulence even as they endorse Carney’s approach.

This helps explain why the government has emphasized the word “support”

Source:MSN News