Trust in Political Institutions in Canada

The AmericasBarometer surveys conducted in Canada by the Environics Institute have been tracking trust in political institutions and actors in a consistent way since 2010. The results of the latest survey, conducted in the summer of 2025, provide a comprehensive update. They show that the extent to which Canadians trust political actors and institutions has, in most cases, held steady over the past 15 years. In some cases, trust has increased. The results also cast doubt on the assumption that young people, in particular, are losing trust in the political system. If one age group stands out, it is older people, not younger people – older Canadians are much more likely to express strong support for the country’s political system.

Where trust has been declining over the past decade is among supporters of the Conservative Party – since the party was defeated in 2015. As a result of this trend, the current extent of the gaps in trust between supporters of the Liberal and Conservative parties in Canada are now as wide in some cases as those between supporters of the Republican and Democratic parties in the U.S. – with the exception that trust is higher among supporters of the more left-wing party in Canada, but the more right-wing party in the U.S. The key distinction is not between left- and right-wing parties, but between governing and opposition parties (or between election winners and losers). Only time will tell whether trust will rebound significantly among supporters of the Conservative Party once their party returns to power, or whether this decline in trust over the past decade will prove more difficult to reverse.

Read the report.

Key findings

• Support among Canadians for the country’s political system has held steady over the past 15 years. Specifically, there has been no increase in the proportion expressing a low degree of support.

• Only a minority of Canadians say they have a lot of trust in political actors and institutions, such as the Prime Minister, Parliament and political parties. However, this proportion has not been declining over time; in fact, in some cases, it has increased.

• The proportion currently expressing a lot of trust in the Prime Minister of Canada is now the highest registered since this series of surveys began in 2010; the proportion is also twice as high as it was a decade ago.

• Very few Canadians have a lot of trust in political parties. But the proportion saying they don’t trust political parties at all has nonetheless declined by 14 percentage points over the past decade.

• Relatively few Canadians have a lot of trust in the mass media. In this case, however, the proportion with low trust is trending upwards, albeit gradually.

• Canadians are more likely to say they have a lot of trust in elements of the justice system, such as the RCMP and the Supreme Court, than in political institutions, such as Parliament or political parties. Trust in these parts of the justice system has not declined over time.

• There are some differences among age groups in the proportions that express the strongest support for Canada’s political system. But it is older, not younger, Canadians who stand out. Those age 60 and older are much more likely than those age 59 and younger to express a lot of support for the political system, as well as a lot of pride in living under the country’s political system.

• In none of the measures covered in this report do younger Canadians stand out as experiencing a decline of trust over time (since 2010).

• Those whose preferred party has won the most recent election (or elections) tend to have more positive opinions about the trustworthiness of the political system. This is the case for both Liberal Party supporters in Canada and for Republican Party supporters in the United States.

• The current extent of the gaps in trust between supporters of the Republican and Democratic parties in the U.S. is very similar to that between supporters of the Liberal and Conservative parties in Canada – with the exception that trust is higher among supporters of the more left-wing party in Canada, but the more right-wing party in the U.S. (that is to say, the parties currently in power in each country). ƒ Trust in some institutions was as low among Liberal Party supporters when they were in opposition prior to the 2015 election as it has been after that election among Conservative Party supporters.

For more information, contact Dr. Andrew Parkin.