Canadians overwhelmingly think Canada is a better place to live than the US, but some aren’t as sure as others.
We completed a national survey of 1,500 Canadian adults from July 11 to 17, 2022.
ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, WHICH IS A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE – CANADA OR THE US?
While 1 in every 10 Canadians think it would be better to live in the US, everyone else thinks Canada is the better place to be. This feeling is pretty consistent across all regions of the country. To the extent that there are subgroups of the population that are more doubtful that Canada is better, these are men under 45, Conservative and People’s Party voters, and those who have not been vaccinated for Covid-19.
CANADA – SAFER FROM VIOLENCE, BETTER HEALTH CARE
We asked Canadians how they thought their lives would compare on four different criteria if they lived in the US instead of Canada. Majorities thought being in Canada would mean more safety from violence and better health care. Pluralities felt that living in Canada also meant being better off financially and enjoying life more.
MEN UNDER 45
While most men in this age group think Canada is still, all things considered, a better place to live, they are 9 points below the national average on that question. Looking into how they answered the other questions, reveals that the plurality of younger men think they would be better off financially and enjoy life more if they were living in the US.
CONSERVATIVE PARTY VOTERS
Conservative voters are also 9-points below the national average on the overall question of whether Canada is a better place to live. Only 60% think they have better health care than they would have in the US, and only just over a third think Canada is a better place to earn a living and enjoy life.
UNVACCINATED FOR COVID
Only half of this group think living in Canada means being safer from violence or having better health care. A plurality thinks they would be better off financially and enjoy life more living in the United States.
UPSHOT
“Many Canadians have watched with growing concern developments in the US in recent years. While they are able to see lots of room for improvement in Canada – we see that in all of our surveys – they’ve also become more worried that the US is heading in a bad direction.
Envy about the American Dream is not really in evidence, or at least envy of the American reality isn’t. It’s interesting that those who tend to think life in the US is better skew younger and male and the kind of conservatives who’ve been at the forefront of opposing vaccinations.
There may be some irony in the way in which the theme of Canadian pride has been used – when these groups show less conviction that Canada, at least as it currently exists, is a better place to live. However, it’s not hard to imagine that the message of more freedom resonates with this relatively small subset of the public.”
METHODOLOGY
The survey was conducted with 1,500 Canadian adults from July 11 to 17, 2022. A random sample of panelists were invited to complete the survey from a set of partner panels based on the Lucid exchange platform. These partners are typically double opt-in survey panels, blended to manage out potential skews in the data from a single source.
The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is +/- 2.6% 19 times out of 20.
The data were weighted according to census data to ensure that the sample matched Canada’s population according to age, gender, educational attainment, and region. Totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding.
This survey was paid for by Abacus Data Inc.
Abacus Data follows the CRIC Public Opinion Research Standards and Disclosure Requirements that can be found here: https://canadianresearchinsightscouncil.ca/standards/
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