Economic Recession and Federal Politics

December 20, 2023

Every month, we conduct a survey of Canadians and Americans to explore their views on the economy, finances, and their respective governments. This month, our survey was conducted between December 15 and 17, 2023.

Download the report for the full results.


This series of surveys is available on Leger’s website. Would you like to be the first to receive these results? Subscribe to our newsletter now. 

Some of the key highlights of our survey about Canadian federal politics and the economy include…

Voting intentions remain stable

  • Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party remains in the lead. If a federal election were to be held today, 38% of Canadians would vote for the Conservative Party of Canada, a 10 points gap from Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party (28%).
  • Canadians also think Pierre Poilievre is the leader who would make the best prime minister among the federal party leaders (25%), ahead of Justin Trudeau (20%) and Jagmeet Singh (16%), which is stable compared to last month. However, Pierre Poilievre’s numbers have decreased by 4 points since October 2023. 
  • One-third of Canadians are satisfied with the Trudeau government, representing a 4-point increase since last month.

Americans have a more favourable view of their economy compared to Canadians

  • 60% of Canadians consider their household finances to be good, while 67% of Americans feel the same way.
  • 63% of Canadians and 54% of Americans believe their respective countries are in a recession.
  • Almost half of Canadians (48%) say they live paycheque to paycheque, up 4 points from November 2023. Among Americans, 43% say the same thing.

METHODOLOGY

This web survey was conducted from December 15 to 17, 2023, with 1,622 Canadians and 1,000 Americans, 18 years of age or older, randomly recruited from LEO’s online panel.

A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey. For comparison, a probability sample of 1,622 respondents would have a margin of error of ±2.43%, 19 times out of 20, while a probability sample of 1,000 respondents would have a margin of error of ±3.1%, 19 times out of 20.

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