Canadians aren’t sold on the budget or a trade deal with Trump: Ipsos

Detailed summary

A new Ipsos poll for Global News found Canadians believe the federal budget will have a greater impact than the U.S. midterms, but most remain indifferent toward the budget.

Canadians may see the federal budget as more consequential than the recent U.S. midterm elections, but when it comes to what the government is offering, most aren’t giving it a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

A new Ipsos poll conducted for Global News found that 44 per cent of Canadians believe the federal budget will have a greater impact on the country than the U.S. midterms, compared with 24 per cent who believe the elections will have the bigger impact. Another 33 per cent said they didn’t know enough to say.

But despite its importance, 62 per cent described the budget as neither good nor bad, while just 17 per cent viewed it positively and 21 per cent gave it a negative assessment.

“Well, at this point, it looks like it’s just kind of, as the kids say, a meh, you know?” Darrell Bricker, chairman of Ipsos Canada, told Global News.

“I don’t really see what the effect is going to be. Maybe I’m going to wait and see, but at the moment, it’s basically a shrug.”

Only 14 per cent of Canadians believe the budget will personally help them financially compared with 21 per cent who expect it to hurt them. Another 65 per cent believe it will neither help nor hurt.

Bricker said Canadians have yet to see how the budget could meaningfully change their lives, describing it as a “non-event for most Canadians.”

While Canadians remain largely indifferent toward the federal budget, the U.S. midterm elections appear to have sparked some optimism about trade relations with their southern neighbour.

A separate Ipsos poll found 49 per cent of respondents are more optimistic about reaching a trade deal that’s good for Canada.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Global News. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.