G7 citizens feeling gloomy ahead of summit

A lot can change in a year. 

In June 2024, leaders of the G7 (Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S.) met in Apulia, Italy, as hope was rising that their countries were well on the way to recovery after the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis.

In June 2025, five of the seven countries meeting in Alberta, Canada, have fresh faces at the helm (Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British PM Keir Starmer, Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump) and the leaders have a new global tariff war to hash out at the G7 summit from June 15-17. 

Below, we look at the current and long-percolating issues worrying citizens everywhere from Tokyo to Toronto ahead of the annual gathering.

1. From open arms to shut doors. Anti-immigrant sentiment has repeatedly been stoked by Western politicians for years now, with Trump’s promise of a “big, beautiful wall” being a key part of his first term from 2017-2021.

The sixth edition of the Ipsos Populism Report finds while Germany welcomed refugees from Syria with open arms a decade ago it’s now the top G7 country when it comes to people saying their country “would be stronger if we stopped immigration” (46%, up from 37% in 2016), followed by Great Britain (40%, +9 percentage points), Italy (40%, -6 pp), France (39%, -1 pp), Canada (34%, +10 pp), the U.S. (33%, -5 pp) and Japan (28%, +14 pp).

While no G7 country is stopping immigration altogether some have recently taken steps to dramatically rein things in, with Merz saying “we have allowed too much uncontrolled immigration and have enabled too little qualified migration into our labor market.”

2. National pride. President Trump has also taken a hard line on immigration, recently sparking protests in Los Angeles, since being inaugurated on January 20.

As with Trump’s first term, his country’s reputation on the global stage is once again taking a hit.

American exceptionalism has wavered in the wake of Trump’s second, non-consecutive, term with the proportion of people in the U.S. saying their country will have a positive impact on the world dropping from 77% on the eve of the 2024 election to 63% this spring.

And people in this year’s host country have their elbows up as Canadians’ view on their southern neighbors has plummeted, with only 19% now thinking the U.S. will have a positive impact, down 33 percentage points since last fall amid annexation and tariff threats.

At the same time, people in Great Britain (70%, -5 pp from 2024) and Japan (58%, -5 pp) have also grown more pessimistic about their own country’s likely impact since getting new prime ministers last year, while attitudes have stayed more stable in Canada (79%, -1pp), German (69%,+2 pp), Italy (62%, -2 pp) and France (65%, +2 pp).

3. Countries in decline? The majority of citizens across the G7 also believe their country in decline, with the French being the most pessimistic.

Under French President Emmanuel Macron the proportion of people in France who think their country is in decline has soared to 75% in 2025, up 17 points from 58% in 2021, and 67% in 2016 (ahead of his election in 2017).

Macron has admitted that the 2024 snap parliamentary elections he called were a mistake, but there’s talk he could call another election soon to let the people decide who they think can pull their country out of this perceived tailspin.

4. Warming planet, cooling concern. The state of society is far from the only issue for Macron and his fellow leaders to grapple with these days.

Wildfires, floods and heatwaves are now the norm around the, with smoke and wildfires a literal looming threat in Alberta right now.

There’s the sense in recent years that more should be done, though it’s waning a bit.

Ipsos’ annual People and Climate Change polling finds there’s consistent belief among people across the G7 that their country should be doing more to fight climate change, with those in Italy currently leading the way (64%), followed by the U.S. (55%), Great Britain (54%), France (53%), Canada (50%), Japan (49%) and Germany (41%).

Last year, and the year before, smashed global heat records, with people from London, England, to London, Ontario, sweating through searing weather. Despite this, the proportion of people thinking their country should do more to battle climate change is below 2023 levels in all G7 countries but Japan, where those thinking action should be taken is up just two points.

5. Bumpy road ahead? Attention appears to be elsewhere.

Trump has grabbed international headlines (often many times in the course of one day) with his dramatic Oval Office meetings with world leaders, including Carney, Macron, Merz and Starmer.

The focus of many of these White House spectacles has been his seemingly ever-evolving global tariff war. On the heels of Trump’s so-called Liberation Day on April 2 the majority of people across the G7 are concerned prices will rise over the next year, with those in Canada (69%) and the U.S. (68%) the most worried.

And economic positivity, which plummeted around the world when a global pandemic was declared in March 2020 is currently below pre-pandemic levels in all G7 countries, except for Italy where it was pretty dismal to begin with. One in five (20%) Italians told us the current economic situation in their country was very/somewhat good in February 2020, versus 29% in May 2025.

Sentiment is well down in the other six countries.

The proportion who think the current economic situation in their country is good ranges from a high of almost one in three (35%) in both Canada (-22 points vs. Feb. 2020) and the U.S. (-32 pp) to a low of a mere 7% (-15 pp) in Japan.

As leaders old and, mostly, new meet in Alberta over the next few days they’ll have to try to hammer out a way forward on everything from the trade war to the climate crisis to the invasion of Ukraine (though our polling earlier this spring shows there’s not much hope it will end by January 2026).

People across the G7 have signaled they’re none too pleased with how things have played out the first half of this decade and it’s now up to their elected politicians to ensure a brighter future for all. Otherwise, there might be yet another round of fresh faces at the next G7 summit.

Melissa Dunne is a senior data journalist with Ipsos and is based in Canada.

PHOTO CREDIT: Left to Right: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British PM Keir Starmer, U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian PM Mark Carney, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba.