Opinion polls
(Scroll down for political party voter preferences)
Research Co. - March, 2024
With only 23% preferring Canada to remain a monarchy (the lowest support in The Commonwealth), 46% prefer a republic, 21% don't care either way, and 10% aren't sure.
These figures are further confirmation that pro-monarchy support lies consistently in the low 20% range, and that if a referendum were held today, Canada would become a republic.
Leger Marketing - September 9, 2023
A record 63% of Canadians believe it's time to reconsider Canada's ties to the monarchy. In addition:
- 81% said they felt no attachment to the British Monarchy,
- 51% believe it's outdated and does not have a place in the 21st century,
- 48% think that it has become a negative symbol for Canada.
Lord Ashcroft Polls - May 2023
Support in Canada for keeping the monarchy is lowest in the Commonwealth realms at 23%.
- 47% want a republic, 30% don't care either way
- In Jamaica, which plans to become a republic in 2025, 49% want a republic, 11% don't care and 40% prefer to keep the monarchy.
A majority (60%) oppose King Charles as Canada’s head of state, a significant jump from September 2022, when under half (48%) of Canadians opposed recognizing Charles as King of Canada. The massive difference is suspected to be due to sympathy for the royal family following the Queen’s death. The 60% disapproval rate appears to be a return to levels consistent to when he was prince.
The April 23 data also finds half (52%) of Canadians do not want Canada to continue as a constitutional monarchy for generations to come, up 1% from 2023, versus 27% who do and 21% unsure.
Other data:
✓ 64% oppose swearing oath to King Charles & singing “God Save the King” at official ceremonies
✓ 62% do not want to see Charles on currency
✓ 66% do not want Camilla to become Queen of Canada
Only 26% want to continue as a monarchy for generations to come.
91% of those who want it to end believe it's worth changing the constitution to allow it, despite the difficulty.
Half of Canadians say the Royal Family is no longer relevant to them personally, while 23 % say it is just as relevant as ever, or more so (2%).
"Barbados’ decision to take this step is seen by some as the first in an inevitable cascade of nations looking for this extra degree of independence. For their part, Canadians feel that countries making this decision are following the right path – three-in-five say this (58%). Furthermore, those who do not say it is the right decision largely withhold judgement, while one-in-twelve (8%) say that this is the wrong choice."
The results when asked: "Thinking of Canada’s constitution, would you prefer that Canada remains a monarchy or has an elected head of state?"
Monarchy - 21%
Elected head of state (Republic) - 49%
No preference - 31%
The 21% saying they would prefer for the country to remain a monarchy (down three points since a similar Research Co. poll was conducted in February 2021 ), is the lowest level recorded in six separate surveys since 2009.
Conducted while Queen Elizabeth was monarch, 55 % said they supported her as Canada’s official head of state — a significant decline from the 64 % in 2016.
66 % said they were opposed to recognizing “King Charles” as head of state, a figure that increased from 54 % in 2016.
When asked whether Canada should remain a constitutional monarchy in future generations, 52 % of respondents said no, more than double the 25 % who said yes.
72 % said the royal family is no longer relevant to them or are becoming less relevant, up six percentage points from 2020.
53% of Canadians think that the British monarchy is out of date and no longer has a place in the 21st century.
43% of Canadians think the revelations by Harry and Meghan in Oprah Winfrey's TV interview suggest that the Royal Family holds racist views.
Preferences by federalist political party affiliation
Traditionally, the Liberal Party of Canada has led the way in moving the country away from the monarchy and other colonial symbols.
Conversely, Conservatives have for decades, universally opposed those initiatives, and have even incorporated preservation of the monarchy in their party constitution.
However, beginning with opinion polls taken around 2015, the tables have turned, with Conservative voters shifting their views towards more favouring a republic.
We'll leave it to the politics experts to theorize on just why that's happened, but we believe it's a remarkable transformation worthy of mention in the analysis of public opinion on the monarchy.
And it most certainly disputes the longstanding Liberal Party argument that they'd suffer politically from the opposition if they pushed for reform.
- May, 2023 - Lord Ashcroft Polls - Respondents who agreed to: "Would vote in favour of a republic"
Liberal: 41%
Conservative: 51%
NDP: 57%
- May, 2023 - Abacus data - Respondents who answered Yes to: "If there was a national referendum on whether to eliminate the monarchy in Canada, would you vote to eliminate?"
Liberal 54%
Conservative: 61%
NDP: 71%
Green: 67%
PPC: 72%
- Feb 2024 - Village Media online poll - When asked "If Canada had a referendum on the monarchy, would you vote to keep it, or to become a republic?"
... 60% of those with a very favourable view of Pierre Poilievre said they would vote for Canada to become a republic.