Canadians See Federal Budget as More Important than U.S. Midterms

Canadians are more likely to believe the federal budget (44%) will have a bigger impact on Canada than the recent U.S. mid-term elections (24%), with the rest (33%) not knowing enough to say either way, according to a new Ipsos poll conducted for Global News. Despite the attention paid to the midterms and the Democratic victory in both houses of Congress and in many key gubernatorial races, across all regions of Canada, genders and generations, more believe the federal budget has a greater impact on Canada than the midterms. Conservatives (54%) are more likely than Liberals (42%) to view the federal budget as more important, while Liberals (30%) are more likely to think the midterms will be more impactful compared to just 22% of Conservatives. 

As you may know, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne delivered the federal budget in the House of Commons on Thursday, November 5th. Based on what you have seen, read or heard about the budget, would you say that the budget overall is…
Despite the relative importance placed on the budget, Canadians’ assessment of it is ambivalent.  A majority of Canadians (62%) simply shrug their shoulders saying it is neither good nor bad. Two in ten (21%) would describe the budget as bad and symbolically give it a thumbs down, and a nearly equal proportion (17%) say it’s good and give it a thumbs up. Far more are neutral now than in early 2024, when disapproval was at 40%. Liberals have the most favourable impression of the budget although it is still relatively low, with 30% giving it a thumbs up and 6% giving it a thumbs down. Conservatives are less impressed as 9% give it a thumbs up and 43% give it a thumbs down. 

Based on what you’ve seen, read or heard, do you think the budget will...
Relatively few believe the budget will help them (14%), while one in five (21%) believe it will personally hurt their finances. Liberals (21%) are most likely to believe the budget will help them, while Conservatives (42%) are most likely to think the budget will hurt them. 

Given the apparent apathy towards the budget, it’s perhaps not surprising that federal vote intentions are little changed since August. The Liberal party (45%, +1 pt vs. August 2026) would maintain its lead over the Conservatives (35%, +2 pts) among decided voters if an election were held tomorrow. The NDP would garner 9% of the popular vote (-1 pt), while the Bloc would garner 6% nationally (-2 pts), 26% in Quebec.

The Liberals lead in all regions except Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and among Canadians of all income levels studied. However, the Conservatives (42%) lead the Liberals (34%) by eight points among Millennials. In contrast, the Liberals (61%) have a commanding 34-point lead over Conservatives (27%) among Boomers, who helped deliver Mark Carney his electoral victory in 2025. 
 

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between November 10 and 12, 2026, on behalf of Global News. For this survey, a sample of 1,002 Canadians aged 18+ was interviewed online. Quotas and weighting were employed to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the Canadian population according to census parameters. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Darrell Bricker, PhD
Chairman, Ipsos Canada
+1 416 324 2001
[email protected]

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