Canadians’ Top Concern Is Jobs and the Economy: Poll

A worker is seen at work at the Anchor Danly manufacturing plant in Windsor, Ont, on Jan. 16, 2025. Reuters/Rebecca Cook/File Photo

Canadians say jobs and the economy are once again their biggest concern, for the first time since February ahead of the issue of relations with their southern neighbour, a new poll shows

The issue of jobs and the economy in mid-May surpassed concern about the U.S. president and Canada-U.S. relations, according to the latest polling report released by Nanos Research on May 20.

The Nanos polls ask over 1,000 respondents each week to provide, unprompted, their “most important national issue of concern.” The U.S.-related concern began its steep rise in early January, in advance of President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. It peaked in March, being the top issue for just over 40 percent of respondents.

The latest polling report presented the four-week change between May 16 and April 18. The April 18 data had Trump and U.S. relations in top spot, at 34.3 percent, with jobs and the economy claiming second place at 16.7 percent. The two issues switched positions a month later, with the May 16 data indicating jobs and the economy in top spot, at 20 percent, and Trump and U.S. relations in second place, albeit only slightly lower, at 19.3 percent.

Notably, on April 18, inflation came in a distant third at 6.7 percent and the environment fourth at 3.2 percent. But on May 16, health care claimed third place at 8.2 percent, while inflation fell to fourth place at 7.3 percent.

“Concern about jobs/the economy has been on rise while focus on Trump/US relations on the decline over the past number of weeks,” said chief data scientist Nik Nanos in a May 20 news release. “Also of note, the trend line from the election with the Liberals and Conservatives being in a tight race continues in the post-election period.”

The issue of jobs and the economy being overtaken earlier this year by Trump and U.S. relations as Canadians’ top concern coincided with the president’s imposition of tariffs on Canada tied to border security, Ottawa’s counter-tariffs, as well as Trump’s repeated calls for Canada to become the 51st U.S. state.

The two previous Nanos polling reports, published May 13 and May 8, also indicated a declining trend for the concern about Trump and U.S. relations despite it continuing to be the issue most top of mind.

According to the four-week change presented in the May 8 report, the U.S.-related concern fell from 36.4 percent to 25.2 percent between April 4 and May 2. That was the first set of Nanos polling data released since the April 28 federal election, which saw the Liberals returned to power under new leader Mark Carney.

According to the four-week change presented in the May 13 report, the U.S.-related concern fell from 37.8 percent to 23 percent between April 11 and May 9.

Issues Over the Last Decade

Over the last decade, since January 2015, the Nanos polls have often indicated that concerns about jobs and the economy were higher than those about issues like health care, the environment, and the deficit/debt. Notably, jobs and the economy peaked in the fall of 2015 and early 2016 and again in March–April 2020, shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starting in the fall of 2020, concerns about jobs and the economy fell and edged closer to concerns about health care and the environment, but these were all overshadowed by worries about the pandemic itself. Toward the end of the pandemic, in January 2022, those concerns were joined by a new issue logged for the first time: inflation. Jobs and the economy didn’t begin to emerge significantly in top place again until August 2024, a few months ahead of the Nov. 5, 2024, U.S. election.

That issue of concern was overtaken by more than double its level in early January, when the new president was about to come into power. These new concerns about Trump and U.S. relations were dwarfed only by those about the pandemic at its height, which polled as high as 50 percent in early 2020 and slightly lower in late December 2020.