Public support for autocratic leaders in Canada and the USA

Do Canadians and Americans support strong leaders and restrictions on the opposition?

In the current political context, how do Americans and Canadians feel about the powers afforded to their national leader over other branches of government and the media? In these difficult economic times are they looking for an autocratic-style national leader to take control of the government to address current challenges?

Insight into this question is provided by the results of the most recent AmericasBarometer surveys in Canada and the USA (conducted in July – September 2025).

Read the report

Highlights

Do Canadians and Americans think it would be good for their country to have a strong leader in the government, even if the leader bends the rules to get things done?

In 2025, the public in both countries are equally divided on this question. As expected, those who support the government and leader currently in power are more favourable to the idea. But this divide is more substantial in the U.S. (with Trump in the White House) and much less evident in Canada.

Canada:

• In 2025, the Canadian public is evenly divided on this question. One-third say a strong leader who bends the rules is a good idea, compared with the same proportion who believe it is a bad idea. The remainder have no clear opinion either way.

• Liberal Party supporters are the most likely to say a strong national leader bending the rules is a good thing. But the gap in opinions across the three main national parties is not substantial, and has actually narrowed since 2021.

United States

• In 2025, Americans are also evenly divided between those who think a strong national leader bending the rules is a good (37%) or bad (37%) form of government.

• These current numbers reflect a significant shift since 2021, when the American public was twice as likely to oppose (44%) as support (21%) the strong leader model of government.

• The rise in public support for a strong leader who bends the rules is most apparent among American men, and especially young men (ages 18 to 34). This group’s embrace of the idea swelled from 30 percent in 2021 to 59 percent in 2025 (up 29 percentage points).

• Between 2023 and 2025 (either side of the 2024 election), Republican support for strong leaders more than doubled, while Democrats’ strong rejection of this kind of leadership did the same. The proportion of Republicans who say strong leaders who bend the rules is very good for government shot from 6 percent in 2023 to 25 percent in 2025.

Apart from bending the rules from time to time, in 2025 there is little support in either country for national leaders who overstep their authority over other institutions. Only small minorities of Canadians and Americans believe their leaders should be able to limit the voice and vote of opposition parties, censor media that is critical of them, or ignore judicial decisions they consider unfair; in both countries a strong plurality express strong disagreement in each case.

Once again, there is a partisan dimension to such views, as those who support an opposition party are most widely opposed to autocratic leadership. But this partisan divide is much more evident in the U.S. Republican Party supporters are split on the merits of such autocratic powers; in each case opposition outweighs support but by a close margin (between 4 and 10 percentage points). In comparison, large majorities of Democratic voters reject these measures, with two-thirds voicing strong disagreement.

By comparison, Canadians’ opinions on these questions stand out as being surprisingly consistent across political partisan lines. Clear majorities of Liberal, Conservative, NDP and Bloc Québécois supporters disagree with all three types of strong executive power, with fewer than one in five expressing agreement.

For more information about this study, contact Dr. Andrew Parkin, Executive Director.

The AmericasBarometer is a regular comparative survey of democratic values and behaviours that covers countries in North, Central and South America, as well as a significant number of countries in the Caribbean (the 2025-26 study will cover 20 countries). The project is led by the LAPOP Lab at Vanderbilt University’s Center for Global Democracy (CGD). The Canadian and American surveys were conducted by the Environics Institute for Survey Research, in partnership with CGD’s LAPOP Lab at Vanderbilt University and with the support of the Max Bell Foundation. The author is solely responsible for any errors in presentation or interpretation.

The Canadian survey was conducted online with a sample of 3,550 Canadians (aged 18 and over) between July 30 and August 7, 2025. The results are weighted by region, age, gender, education and language so as to be fully representative of the Canadian population. The U.S. survey was conducted online with 1,600 Americans (18 years of age and older) between October 3 and 16, 2025. The results are weighted by region, age, gender, education and ethnicity so as to be fully representative of the American population.