Nanos poll shows Canadians split on budget priorities

Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers a live speech about Canada's strategy to strengthen its economy before the 2025 Budget, at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Canadians disagree on whether Prime Minister Mark Carney should spend big or cut back in the upcoming federal budget, a new survey by Nanos Research for CTV News reveals.

The survey compared running a budget to invest in programs for Canadians with balancing the budget to reduce the tax burden.

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Nanos poll shows Canadians split on budget priorities

By Colton Praill

Published: November 02, 2025 at 4:40PM EST

Prime Minister Mark Carney makes a live address on Canada's plan to build a stronger economy in advance of the 2025 Budget, at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

A new survey for CTV News by Nanos Research reveals that Canadians disagree on whether Prime Minister Mark Carney should spend big or cut back in the upcoming federal budget.

The survey compared running a budget to invest in programs for Canadians with balancing the budget to lower the tax burden.

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Mark Carney's first budget shows a big change from earlier fiscal plans

Before COVID-19, polls showed 55 percent of Canadians wanted to balance the budget, while 43 percent favored a deficit to fund programs. 2 percent of people said they weren't sure.

By February 2023, the number of Canadians who supported running a deficit fell to 35 percent, but those who wanted to balance the budget stayed about the same at 56 percent.

Fresh polls indicate the two priorities are neck and neck: 47 percent prefer running a deficit to invest, while 48 percent want to focus on cutting the budget and 5 percent aren't sure.

"Right now, people see a deficit at least for the near future as more okay than before," said Nik Nanos, the founder and head number cruncher at Nanos Research.

Carney hints he's ready to face an election over next week's budget

He also said that despite tightening finances, this shift doesn't give the federal government free rein to keep running deficits. Instead, it shows they recognize the importance of putting money into infrastructure economic growth, and jobs.

Canadians seem to care about the economic pressures the country faces, as shown by the GDP drop in August reported this week. This was one of the top things they want the federal budget to address.

Health care still the main concern new issues coming up

When asked to pick the two areas they'd most like the federal budget to focus on, 30 percent of people surveyed said health care was their top choice.

This shows that health care got twice as much attention as any other issue, but it dropped by 19 percentage points compared to 2023 when almost half of those asked said it was a top concern.

Instead, people now seem to care about housing (12 percent), ways to fight inflation (6 percent), money for defense (5 percent), and lower tariffs (4 percent) - none of which showed up in the 2023 survey.

"I think this comes down to folks worrying about paying rent, buying food, and keeping their jobs right now," Nanos said.

"The average Canadian wants to see no cuts in healthcare right now but expects investments in the long run. In the short term, they're looking for money put into building roads, creating jobs, and improving infrastructure. This could help our economy shift and become less dependent on the United States."

Methodology

Nanos carried out a mixed telephone and online survey of 1,045 Canadians aged 18 or above from Oct. 27 to 30 2025. The company states its poll results have a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20. They weighted the outcomes by age and gender using the latest census data to match the Canadian population