Majority of Carney's Liberals have faith in his leadership. Here are the ones who don't, according to a poll

When Prime Minister Mark Carney won government last year, several issues important to Canadians were awaiting his immediate attention.

And while it seems many Canadians think he and his cabinet have done a respectable job addressing some, a new Angus Reid Institute (ARI) poll shows the priorities at the top of most voters’ minds, including those of Liberal balloters, are not getting the attention they deserve in Ottawa.

Additionally, more Canadians overall feel that Carney hasn’t put the country on the right track.

In a survey of 2,013 Canadians conducted earlier this month, 67 per cent said Carney’s government has fallen short of meeting expectations on improvements to housing affordability and 70 per cent felt the same about efforts to address the ballooning cost of living, an issue made considerably worse since war in the Middle East has sent gas prices soaring worldwide.

Among professed Liberal supporters on those topics, 50 and 54 per cent, respectively, also said government’s efforts were underwhelming.

The two issues were among the top four for voters just ahead of the 2025 election, which ended with the Liberals retaining a minority government that has since become a majority following three by-election wins and five Conservative MPs crossing the floor of the House of Commons.

With U.S. tariffs and President Donald Trump’s repeated taunts about annexing Canada upsetting the natural order last year, Carney’s “Elbows Up” campaign concentrated on managing the relationship with the nation’s largest trading partner while building new avenues for independence around the world

“But it is concerns from Canadians over pocketbooks that linger,” ARI wrote.

More Canadians than not (44 per cent) also said Carney’s government have fallen short on climate change and environmental policy than expected, including 38 per cent of Liberals.

Issues that were most important to voters during the election — cost of living/inflation and health care — might only be nominally more important in this year’s polling versus last, up six and three points respectively to 59 and 41 per cent. But relations with the U.S. that set off the unprecedented border beef are decidedly less pressing, falling from 14 points to just 13 per cent this time around, tying it for seventh on the list of topics polled.

Furthermore, looking ahead, Trump (31 per cent) ranked as the second biggest challenge in the year to come. Again, reductions to the cost of living took top spot among 52 per cent of respondents and the same held true across partisan lines, with almost half (48 per cent) of Liberal-voting respondents feeling the same.

Asked if Carney’s delivered on election promises, respondents were divided evenly at 41 per cent, but ARI found that three in five (59 per cent) 2025 Liberal voters said he’s simply met those expectations, only 12 per cent said he’s exceeded them and 17 per cent couldn’t say or weren’t sure.

Overall, issues on which respondents said the Liberals met or exceeded expectations include improving Canada’s international reputation (64 per cent), diversifying trade partners (57 per cent), defence spending and NATO commitments (59 per cent) and the Trump file (56 per cent).

“Notably, however, two-in-five (37 per cent) say they expected more from Carney on that front,” ARI highlighted.

Division arose on opinions about “nation building” major project advancement (42 per cent met or exceeded, 40 per cent fell short) and improving the economy (46 to 44 per cent). On immigration policy, almost half (49 per cent) observed shortcomings, as did nearly one-in-four (23 per cent) Liberal voters.

Asked if Canada was headed down the right or wrong track, 42 per cent said the latter, 34 per cent opted for the former and the remaining 23 per cent were unsure or couldn’t say.

Among the 778 Liberal voters polled, only 14 per cent think Carney and Co. are off track, but 23 per cent weren’t sure or couldn’t say.

The online survey was conducted from April 15-20, 2026, among a randomized sample of Canadians adults who are members of the ARI Forum. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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