Institutional Confidence: Canadians’ and Americans’ Perspectives

November 1, 2023

From October 27 to 29, 2023, we surveyed Canadians and Americans to know more about their trust levels towards various institutions.

Download the report to learn more.

Some of the key highlights of our survey about institutional confidence include…

  • The police are the most trusted institution in both Canada (73%) and the U.S. (59%). In Canada, they are closely followed by Elections Canada (69%) and the Supreme Court (66%). Over half of respondents trust the Bank of Canada (57%), municipal administrations (55%) and the people working at the Government of Canada (53%).
  • On the other hand, in Canada, large corporations are the least trusted (28%), followed by the Prime Minister’s Office (36%) and the Senate (37%).
  • Canadian respondents trust most institutions significantly more compared to their American counterparts.
  • In the U.S., only two institutions were trusted by more than half of respondents: the police (59%) and municipal administrations (51%). All other institutions were trusted by less than half of U.S. respondents, with large corporations (27%), the House of Representatives (28%) and the media (30%) trusted least.

METHODOLOGY

This web survey was conducted from October 27 to 29, 2023, with 1,632 Canadians and 1,002 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 1,632 respondents would have a margin of error of ±2.4%, 19 times out of 20, while a probability sample of 1,002 respondents would have a margin of error of ±3.1%, 19 times out of 20.

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