What Americans & Canadians really think about foreign election meddling, the Arctic, and Canada's health care system

Section header with US-Canada motif
Paige Fusco

GZERO Media and Maru Public Opinion conduct regular polling about how Americans and Canadians view consumer, economic, and socio-political issues. Veteran pollster and Maru EVP John Wright leads the polling team. Each week, we’ll highlight a few numbers from these surveys. You can find the data here.

91 & 93: Americans and Canadians are fed up with foreign meddling in their national elections. The majority in both countries — 91% of Canadians and 93% of Americans – want their governments to ramp up security and intelligence efforts to stop foreign powers from undermining democracy.

79 & 80: The Russian threat looms large, not just in Ukraine, but also in northern Canada. There is majority support in both Canada and the US, 79% and 80% respectively, for a joint US-Canada military presence in the Arctic.

83 & 69: Americans often buy medicines from Canada to avoid paying through the nose for life-saving drugs at home. But that doesn’t mean all Americans think Canada’s national healthcare system is better. While 83% of Canadians find their healthcare system superior to private US healthcare, only 69% of Americans agree.

85 & 85: Americans and Canadians may disagree over the level of cooperation their governments should have on matters such as trade and immigration, but 85% in both countries are aligned on the need for North America to reduce its reliance on foreign energy supplies by helping the natural gas and oil industry.

More from GZERO Media

A cargo ship is loading and unloading foreign trade containers at Qingdao Port in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, China on May 7, 2025.
Photo by CFOTO/Sipa USA

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their Chinese counterparts in Geneva on Saturday in a bid to ease escalating trade tensions that have led to punishing tariffs of up to 145%. Ahead of the meetings, Trump said that he expects tariffs to come down.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks on the phone to US President Donald Trump at a car factory in the West Midlands, United Kingdom, on May 8, 2025.
Alberto Pezzali/Pool via REUTERS

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer achieved what his Conservative predecessors couldn’t.

The newly elected Pope Leo XIV (r), US-American Robert Prevost, appears on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican after the conclave.

On Thursday, Robert Francis Prevost was elected the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Leo XIV and becoming the first American pontiff — defying widespread assumptions that a US candidate was a long shot.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson talks with reporters in the US Capitol on May 8, 2025.

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Sipa USA

US House Speaker Mike Johnson is walking a tightrope on Medicaid — and wobbling.

US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney meet in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., USA, on May 6, 2025.
REUTERS/Leah Millis

The first official meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and US President Donald Trump was friendlier than you might expect given the recent tensions in the relationship.