In July 2025, Digital Public Square ran a survey to measure the state of polarization in Canada. The survey offers insight into how Canadians perceive polarization in Canada, what they think are the causes of polarization, and how they perceive people who agree and disagree with their political positions. The survey seeks to measure both ideological and affective polarization. Put simply, ideological polarization is when society becomes divided in political beliefs. Affective polarization is when people strongly identify with their own partisan group and social distance between partisan groups grows. When affective polarization is high, opposing political groups view their in-group increasingly positively and their out-group increasingly negatively, creating an “us versus them” dynamic.
Key findings from the survey include:
- Canadians generally identify as ideologically centrist. Overall, 40% of Canadians identified as right-leaning and 30% as left-leaning, with the remaining 30% occupying the centre. On a 7-point scale, 66% of Canadians placed themselves in the three centrist positions. Extreme views were not widespread, with only 5% identifying on the far right and 7% on the far left.
- Canadians perceive a relatively high level of division in the country. On a scale of zero (not at all polarized) to 10 (extremely polarized), the average score was 6.5. Three in 10 (30%) said they think Canada is highly polarized (top three options) and only 4% said they think it is not very polarized (bottom three options).
- Most Canadians believe that polarization is worsening. Over half (55%) said they think polarization is getting worse, while only 16% said they think it’s getting better. This sentiment was particularly strong among those who already perceive a high degree of polarization, with 71% of them feeling things are getting worse.
- The more right or left a person identifies, the more positively they view their own group and the more negatively they view the opposing group. On a 10-point scale where zero is very negative and 10 is very positive, the far right rated the political right 8.8 and the left 2.9 (a 5.9-point difference). Similarly, the far left rated the left 8.3 and the right 1.8, a difference of 6.5 points.
- The right and the left see positive traits in their in-groups and negative traits in their out-groups. In particular, individuals on the far right and far left reported extremely negative views of their ideological opponents. These views were often rooted in alarming perceptions, such as the other side being immoral or having the wrong priorities, which likely makes it easier for them to dismiss opposing arguments entirely.
The survey results suggest that affective polarization in Canada is high and at risk of intensifying. In comparison, ideological polarization does not appear as high. The survey principally measured ideology through self-identification on the political spectrum rather than applied to particular real-world positions. Further research is needed to illuminate the scope and drivers of affective and ideological polarization in Canada, with a goal to develop solutions to polarization before it becomes a crisis.