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Economic slowdown shaping attitudes as unemployment, higher energy costs hit entire continent
A sweeping poll conducted over the second two weeks of this month by the Strategic Counsel for The Globe and Mail and CTV compared the attitudes of Canadians and Americans on a wide range of issues, including the economy.
What the researchers found was an anxiety about unemployment and energy costs that is affecting an entire continent.
Those matters were the No. 1 issue for 18 per cent of Canadians surveyed. And, in the United States, where the percentage of people looking for work is exceeding the Canadian rate for the first time in 26 years, a full 33 per cent said the economy topped the list.
"In the U.S. there is a huge regional impact unemployment-wise," said Peter Donolo, a Strategic Counsel partner. "There is that whole swath of middle America and the Midwest that has just been devastated. And they've also had a tremendous housing crash that we haven't had in Canada."
The No. 3 issue in the United States was foreign policy, primarily the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as terrorism in general. Canadians placed those matters sixth - behind the environment, health care and social issues.
It's perhaps not surprising then that 71 per cent of Americans said they believe their country is on the wrong track.
In Canada, by comparison, just 40 per cent of those surveyed said the country is on the wrong track, while 49 per cent said it is headed in a good direction.
But Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government should not necessarily take comfort in those numbers, Mr. Donolo said.
In Canada, "the 'right track' level is significantly down from what it had been over a number of years," he said, adding that the last time it was around this level was just before the previous Liberal government was defeated.
The poll, which surveyed 1,000 Canadians and 1,000 Americans between June 12 and June 22, is expected to accurately reflect the broad opinions in the two countries within a range of 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
It was conducted at a time when the North American free-trade agreement was making the news - and as Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, was saying he would renegotiate the deal to toughen environmental and labour standards.
But the Strategic Counsel survey suggests a large number of Canadians think less highly of NAFTA than do their southern neighbours.
While 36 per cent of Americans said the agreement has been bad for their country, 44 per cent of Canadians said the same thing.
Political leaders in all of the federal parties have reached a consensus that free trade has been good for Canada, Mr. Donolo said. And empirical data support that view.
But Canadians don't necessarily agree. Sixty per cent said the United States has benefited more from the deal than has Canada. Just 23 per cent of Americans, on the other hand, said Canada had benefited more than the United States.
"This clearly tags free trade as a sleeper political issue in Canada and what's interesting is there is not a single political party that's opposed to it," Mr. Donolo said.
The poll also looked at the way the two nations view each other.
Half of the respondents in this country said Canadians are mainly or essentially different from Americans. That compares with the United States where just 21 per cent of Americans said they were different from Canadians.
"Part of the act of being a Canadian is not being an American. There is a greater consciousness of it," Mr. Donolo said.
Meanwhile, half of those surveyed in both countries said Canadians and Americans are friendly but not close, while about a quarter of the respondents on both sides of the border described the relationship as cordial but distant.
And 47 per cent of Canadians said their perceptions of Americans have become more negative in recent years.
"There is a sense among a significant number of Canadians," Mr. Donolo said, "that there has been a fundamental divergence between our government and our political cultures in the last few years."
Thoughts of Canadians and Americans compared
Gas prices are now beating out the environment and other hot-button issues on both sides of the Canadian-American border.
In your opinion, what is the most important issue facing Canada/U.S. today, that is, the one that you are most concerned about?
| Issue | Canadians | Americans |
| Economic/unemployment | 18% | 33% |
| Gas prices | 18 | 19 |
| Environmental | 16 | 1 |
| Health care | 11 | 6 |
| Social/moral | 9 | 6 |
| Iraq/Afghanistan/terrorism/foreign policy | 6 | 14 |
| Crime/violence | 3 | <1 |
| Energy/oil | 2 | 4 |
| Politics | 2 | 6 |
| Canada-U.S. relations | 1 | <1 |
| Education | 1 | 1 |
| Government spending/deficit | 1 | <1 |
| Taxes | 1 | 1 |
| Other | 5 | 5 |
| None/don't know | 8 | 3 |
Do you feel that Canada has benefited more than the United States from the free-trade agreement, that it has had the same effect on both sides of the border. Or that the United States has benefited more than Canada?
| CANADA | UNITED STATES | |
| Canada has benefited more | 9% | 23% |
| Same effect on both sides | 22% | 38% |
| U.S. has benefited more | 60% | 12% |
| Don't know | 10% | 27% |
Would you describe Canadians and Americans as essentially different, mainly different but with some similarities, mainly the same but with some small differences, or essentially the same?
| CANADA | UNITED STATES | |
| Essentially the same | 13% | 24% |
| Mainly the same | 37% | 46% |
| Mainly different | 30% | 15% |
| Essentially different | 19% | 6% |
| Don't know | 1% | 9% |
In the past few years, would you say your attitudes toward the U.S./Canada have become more positive, remained unchanged, or become more negative?
| CANADA | UNITED STATES | |
| Remained the same | 44% | 75% |
| More negative | 47% | 5% |
| More positive | 9% | 17% |
| Don't know | 1% | 3% |
Note: Figures may not add to 100 due to rounding
SOURCE: THE STRATEGIC COUNSEL
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