Poll shows 43% of young Canadians would take American citizenship

A recent poll shows a staggering 43% of Canadians aged 18 to 34 would vote to be American if they were guaranteed citizenship and had their assets converted to US dollars.

Across all age groups, 30% of Canadians would consider voting to join the US with the same caveats.

The Ipsos poll, published on Thursday, follows weeks of remarks made by incoming President Donald Trump about annexing Canada. At first it seemed like the president-elect was trolling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and making a joke of Canada joining the US — but Trump has persisted and his comments have become frequent and more serious.

Canadians overall demonstrate a strong disagreement with the idea of becoming the United States’ 51st state — however, 22% of Canadians would vote in favour of their province being annexed to the US if Quebec and Alberta were to become independent.

The poll suggests Canadians are not optimistic about Canada’s sovereignty and some believe the “disintegration of Canada as a unified nation is inevitable.”

One in five, 20%, “feel it is only a matter of time before Canada and the US merge,” and 27%) believe Quebec, Alberta “or both will separate from the rest of Canada within the next ten years.”

The poll was conducted on behalf of Global News between January 9 and 13, 2025, prior to Trudeau’s announcement of his intent to resign. A sample of 1,000 voting age Canadians we surveyed, with a ± 3.8% margin of error, or 19 times out of 20 accuracy.

“More Canadians think Trump's comments pose a serious risk to Canada’s independence (48%) than think that his comments shouldn’t be treated as serious (43%),” wrote the pollster.

“In light of Trump’s comments about Canada becoming the 51st US state, older Canadians express greater Canadian patriotism and agreement that they would never vote to merge the two countries,” wrote researchers.

“Younger Canadians are more likely to see a real risk to Canada’s independence, to see the merging of the two countries as inevitable, and to be willing to vote toward becoming American if Canadians were offered full US citizenship and conversion of financial assets into US dollars.”

“Younger Canadians are also more likely to see Alberta and Quebec’s separation from the rest of Canada as a foregone conclusion.”