60% of Americans say they have no interest in Canada joining, 32% say only if Canada wants to
March 12, 2025 – President Donald Trump continues to escalate his trade war and annexation rhetoric this week, leaving economists, commentators, and even supporters wondering about his motivations.
New data from Angus Reid finds Trump’s repeated threats to make Canada the 51st state out of line with the views and opinions of his own country and voters. Asked about this idea, three-in-five Americans and 44 per cent of Trump voters say they have “no interest” in seeing Canada join the U.S. Further, one-in-three Americans and 42 per cent of Trump voters say they would only be interested if the idea was supported by Canadians.
It isn’t.
For the second time in 2025, Angus Reid finds nine-in-10 Canadians saying they would vote ‘no’ to joining the United States if given the option.
Amid continued threats, more than half of Canadians now think Trump is serious about this (54%). In January, just one-in-three (32%) felt this way. South of the border there has also been in increase in the proportion who feel Trump is serious, but to a smaller extent, rising from 22 to 34 per cent.
INDEX
Part One: Number who believe Trump is serious grows in both countries
Part Two: Canadians offer a resounding ‘no’ to joining
Part Three: Americans don’t want Canada
Part One: Number who believe Trump is serious grows in both countries
Outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in the process of handing over historic responsibility to Prime Minister-designate Mark Carney, though he will be challenged imminently in a federal election to maintain it. U.S. President Donald Trump continues to threaten escalating tariffs on Canada, in what Trudeau has described as an effort to “collapse” the Canadian economy in an effort to make annexation of this country easier. While those threats were seen as a joke a few months ago, the environment in March is much different. A majority of Canadians now feel Trump is serious (54%), a 22-point increase compared to January. In the United States, 35 per cent now say Trump is serious, a 13-point jump.
Belief that Trump is serious about annexing Canada has increased across the political spectrum but has grown the most among those who voted Bloc Québécois in the 2021 federal election. Now majorities of all 2021 voting groups – except Conservative voters – say that making Canada the 51st state is a “real ambition” of Trump’s:
Part Two: Canadians offer a resounding ‘no’ to joining
Shark Tank personality Kevin O’Leary recently opined about the desire of Canadians to join the United States, stating that half of Canadians would be interested.
Nine-in-ten Canadians would vote no to joining the U.S.
Angus Reid asked Canadians in both January and again this month if they would be interested in joining the United States, finding the same number – approximately nine-in-10 – saying they would vote no in a referendum on the issue:
Part Three: Americans don’t want Canada
Angus Reid data has recently suggested that President Trump is out of step with both his country and even a significant segment of his own voters in his tariff threats and general approach to Canada. The same is evidently true when it comes to the annexation of Canada.
Asked whether they have any interest in acquiring Canada through annexation, Americans are largely opposed. Three-in-five (60%) say they have no interest at all in this, while those who do are largely only interested if Canadians want to join (which they clearly do not):
Even among Trump’s own voters from the November election, there is little desire to take Canada by either political and economic pressure (12%) or by force (2%). Equal numbers of Trump voters say they would only want Canada if Canadians wanted to join (42%) or they aren’t interested at all (44%) in this conversation:
Survey Methodology:
Angus conducted an online survey from Feb. 27 to March 3, 2025 among a representative randomized sample of 2,005 American adults who are members of Angus Reid Forum USA. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding. The survey was self-commissioned and paid for by ARI.
For detailed results for American respondents by age, gender, region, education, and other demographics, click here.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Shachi Kurl, President: 604.908.1693 shachi.kurl@angusreid.us @shachikurl
Dave Korzinski, Research Director: 250.899.0821 dave.korzinski@angusreid.us