Report highlights that the political race between the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party remains close
Canadians are increasingly focused on jobs and the economy, which has overtaken other national concerns as the most salient unprompted issue in public opinion, according to Nanos.
The long-running weekly survey, based on a telephone sample of 1,054 Canadians for the period ending December 26, 2025, finds that respondents are about twice as likely to name jobs and the economy as their top national concern compared with Trump/US relations which is the next most cited item.
Other issues such as inflation, healthcare, immigration, environment, debt/deficit, housing costs, freedom of speech and crime trail well behind in the unprompted rankings.
The report highlights that the political race between the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party remains close, underscoring continued competitiveness at the national level. It also notes that in leadership preference tracking, Mark Carney leads Erin O’Toole by a substantial margin on the preferred prime minister metric, a striking divergence from conventional party leader standings.
Nanos emphasizes that this data comes from its weekly issue and ballot tracking using a four-week rolling average, providing a view of evolving public priorities as 2025 draws to a close. The prominence of economic concerns suggests that Canadians are entering 2026 with a heightened emphasis on economic stability and job security — themes that are likely to shape political discourse in the months ahead.
