Federal Politics: Carney Leads, Canadians Divided on Trump’s Potential Influence in Federal Election

April 8, 2025

Every week during the federal election, we survey Canadians on their federal voting intentions.

Some of the key highlights of our survey about Canadian Politics​…

  • As the third week of the election campaign begins, Mark Carney’s Liberal Party remains in the lead in voting intentions. Currently, 44% of Canadians say they would vote for the Liberal Party if the election were held today, compared to 37% for Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party. These numbers remain stable compared to the past two weeks.

  • Six Canadians out of ten (61%) say their vote is final, while over a third (37%) remain open to changing their mind. Conservative voters (68%) are more likely to say that their choice is final. Over half of NDP voters (54%) may switch their vote.

  • Regardless of their political affiliations, more than half of Canadians (52%) believe the Liberal Party will win the next election, ahead of Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party (27%), Jagmeet Singh’s NDP (2%), Elizabeth May’s Green Party (1%), or Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party (1%). Mark Carney’s Liberal Party has seen a 6-point increase on this question, while Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives have experienced a 4-point decrease compared to last week.

  • More than one in four Canadians (42%) believe Mark Carney is running the best campaign so far, placing him ahead of Pierre Poilievre, who is seen as leading the strongest campaign by 29%. This represents a 6-point increase compared to last week for Mark Carney.

  • One third of Canadians (34%) would prefer to see Mark Carney win the federal election and form a majority government, while 29% would prefer a majority government led by Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative Party. Smaller proportions would prefer a minority government led by the Liberals (12%) or the Conservatives (5%), and 5% would prefer an alternative scenario for the upcoming election.

  • Over a third of Canadians (36%) believe that Donald Trump is definitely trying to influence who becomes Canada’s next Prime Minister, while an equal proportion (36%) think he maybe is. Only one in five Canadians (20%) do not believe he is trying to influence the election.

Methodology

The results for this wave of research are based on online research conducted from April 4 to April 6, 2025  with a representative sample of 1,631 Canadian adults 18 years of age and older from Leger’s LEO panel.

The data was statistically weighted according to 2021 Canadian Census figures. ​

A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey, but for comparison purposes, a probability sample of 1,631 would have a margin of error of +/- 2.43%, 19 times out of 20.

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