Canadians are generally hopeful as they head to 2026But they are pessimistic about whether pressing problems at home and abroad will be solved, a new survey has found.
A new Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News also found that Canadians feel generally positive about their personal health and happiness after last year, but less so about their financial health, social and romantic lives compared to 2022.
Fewer than half of those surveyed said they thought 2025 was better than they expected, and even fewer—42 percent—said they had managed to save enough money in the previous 12 months.
Seven in 10 Canadians said they fear a future recession, although that number is four points lower than three years ago. And while 41 percent said 2025 made them more concerned about their employment, that was 11 points higher than 2022.
Despite this pessimism, 62 percent of those surveyed were overall optimistic about 2026.
“I think Canadians are hoping that (next year) will be better because frankly, it can't get any worse,” said Darrell Bricker, Ipsos' general manager of public affairs.
“Things have been pretty bad – not just over the last year or so, but right up until the start of COVID. And I think people think things will get back to normal at some point. So their optimism may be more of a hope than any true expectation that things will get better.”
Between December 8 and December 15, Ipsos contacted 1,502 Canadians aged 18 and over to participate in the survey.
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The results show that 75 percent of respondents feel very or fairly good about their health when looking back at 2025—the same as three years ago. Seventy-two percent rated their personal happiness positively, although the latter number is five points lower than in 2022.
Just under 60 percent said they were happy with their financial situation, and only 56 percent rated their romantic and sex lives positively, both down from three years earlier.
Just the number of Canadians who said they were satisfied with their social lives rose over that period, from 66 per cent in 2022 to 67 per cent in 2025.
What are Canadians afraid of?
As the new year approaches, 59 per cent of Canadians are optimistic that their financial situation will improve, according to the survey.
However, Ipsos also found that only 29 percent believe they will be able to buy and own a home, and only 22 percent expect products to become more affordable.
This pessimism also extends to political and global issues.
About a third of those surveyed said they believe the trade war between Canada and the United States will be resolved and that lasting peace will be achieved in both Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.
While the survey shows Canadians have a generally positive view of their health, less than half said they expect to have access to better public health services in the next year.
Bricker said the results suggest Canadians feel the pandemic is behind them, but the overall health care system has not necessarily improved.
Overall, he said much of Canadians' cautious optimism can be attributed to the public's trust in Prime Minister Mark Carney.
An Ipsos poll last month found Carney's job approval is 55 percent, 15 points higher than his Liberal Party as a whole, which is only narrowly ahead of the opposition Conservatives.
“There's none of the buyer's remorse that we're seeing now among voters about Mark Carney,” Bricker said.
“Canadians see him as the best person to lead this kind of thing… So I think they're optimistic about their national leadership.”
Bricker added that Carney will be occupied with these and other issues throughout the coming year.
“I think the only thing we can say about how 2026 plays out is that it could be one of the most important years in Canadian history,” he said. “There's a lot going on.
“Based on the data, Canadians are saying, 'We think we'll have the right leadership, that we've gotten through the worst. And hopefully we can overcome the challenges that come our way.”
Bricker added: “This could be, as they say, a whistling past the graveyard. We'll see what happens.”
These are some of the findings from an Ipsos poll conducted from December 8 to 15, 2025, on behalf of Global News. For this survey, 1,502 Canadians aged 18+ were surveyed online. Quotas and weighting were used to ensure that the composition of the sample reflected the composition of the Canadian population according to census parameters. The accuracy of Ipsos online polls is measured using a confidence interval. In this case, the poll's accuracy is ±3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20 if all Canadians aged 18+ were surveyed. The confidence interval will be wider among subgroups of the population. All samples and surveys are subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to, coverage error and measurement error.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
