Are citizens feeling increasingly ignored by their governments in Canada? The evidence from the Canadian portion of the 2023 AmericasBarometer survey is mostly reassuring. Overall, there is no trend toward an increasing share of the public in Canada feeling that they are not listened to by their governments. The vast majority of Canadians also feel they have some way to change things in the country, whether by voting or through some other democratic means (such as running for office).
At the same time, there are signals that the country’s political culture is becoming somewhat less tolerant of dissent. But the scale of these changes should not be exaggerated, as most Canadians continue to feel they have enough freedom to express their views without fear, and very few agree with limiting the voice of the opposition.
Survey Details
The 2023 AmericasBarometer Canadian survey was conducted by the Environics Institute for Survey Research, in partnership with LAPOP at Vanderbilt University. It was conducted online with a representative sample of 2,500 Canadians (aged 18 and over) between July 20 and August 4, 2023.
The AmericasBarometer surveys measure trust in a range of political institutions and actors on a seven-point scale. Here is a summary of the most recent results for Canada, showing the trend since 2010.
Related reading
AmericasBarometer 2017
The AmericasBarometer is a 29 country public opinion survey on democracy, governance and civic engagement, conducted every two to three years by a consortium of of research partners across the western hemisphere.
Housing Affordability
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Ballot questions
As part of its Focus Canada public opinion research program (launched in 1976), the Environics Institute examined the ballot questions for the April 2025 federal election by asking voters to identify which issue was the most important to them personally in choosing which party to support.