Canadians' Top Concern Is Jobs and the Economy: Poll

Epoch Times

27-05-2025

Canadians say jobs and the economy are once again their biggest concern, for the first time since February ahead of the issue of relations with their southern neighbour, a new poll shows
The issue of jobs and the economy in mid-May surpassed concern about the U.S. president and Canada-U.S. relations, according to the latest polling report released by Nanos Research on May 20.
The Nanos polls ask over 1,000 respondents each week to provide, unprompted, their 'most important national issue of concern.' The U.S.-related concern began its steep rise in early January, in advance of President Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20. It peaked in March, being the top issue for just over 40 percent of respondents.
The
Notably, on April 18, inflation came in a distant third at 6.7 percent and the environment fourth at 3.2 percent. But on May 16, health care claimed third place at 8.2 percent, while inflation fell to fourth place at 7.3 percent.
'Concern about jobs/the economy has been on rise while focus on Trump/US relations on the decline over the past number of weeks,' said chief data scientist Nik Nanos in a
Related Stories
5/2/2025
1/22/2025
The issue of jobs and the economy being overtaken earlier this year by Trump and U.S. relations as Canadians' top concern coincided with the president's imposition of tariffs on Canada tied to border security, Ottawa's counter-tariffs, as well as Trump's repeated calls for Canada to become the 51st U.S. state.
The two previous Nanos polling reports, published
According to the four-week change presented in the
According to the four-week change presented in the
Issues Over the Last Decade
Over the last decade, since January 2015, the Nanos polls have often indicated that concerns about jobs and the economy were higher than those about issues like health care, the environment, and the deficit/debt. Notably, jobs and the economy peaked in the fall of 2015 and early 2016 and again in March
–
April 2020, shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Starting in the fall of 2020, concerns about jobs and the economy fell and edged closer to concerns about health care and the environment, but these were all overshadowed by worries about the pandemic itself. Toward the end of the pandemic, in January 2022, those concerns were joined by a new issue logged for the first time: inflation. Jobs and the economy didn't begin to emerge significantly in top place again until August 2024, a few months ahead of the Nov. 5, 2024, U.S. election.
That issue of concern was overtaken by more than double its level in early January, when the new president was about to come into power. These new concerns about Trump and U.S. relations were dwarfed only by those about the pandemic at its height, which polled as high as 50 percent in early 2020 and slightly lower in late December 2020.