NATIONAL PULSE – Majority agree with Ford’s anti-tariff ad featuring Reagan
(Image: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library)
Half say ad helps Americans understand counterview to Trump tariff policy, but impact viewed as ‘small’
By ANGUS REID INSTITUTE
October 31, 2025 – As if the Toronto Blue Jays weren’t providing enough drama this October, even the commercial breaks in the World Series have caused the political and economic equivalent of dirt-kicking at the plate.
This, after the Ontario government followed through with running an ad featuring former President Ronald Reagan espousing views of tariffs in contradiction to those of current President Donald Trump.
New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds that despite Trump’s claim that he will raise tariffs on Canada by 10 per cent in response to the ad running, Canadians are supportive of the decision from Premier Doug Ford’s government. Indeed, twice as many say they strongly agree (31%) with the decision than strongly disagree (13%).
Views in Ontario align with the national average, with 57 per cent agreeing and 27 per cent disagreeing. Notably, Conservatives at the federal level are much more likely to disagree with the ad running (47%), which some say was an unnecessary agitation of a notoriously fickle negotiating counterpart.
Canadians are evidently of two minds over the whole saga. While the majority agree with running the ad, many concede that it likely put Canada in a worse negotiating position. Two-in-five (43%) say this, while 11 per cent say Canada’s position improved and three-in-10 say it didn’t change.
The idea put forth by Trump that the ad was “fraudulent” and “fake” doesn’t pass muster in this country. Canadians are six-times as likely to say that it was an accurate representation of Reagan’s views (60%) than those who agree with the president (10%). The veracity of the ad has also been confirmed by third parties, though that doesn’t seem to have swayed Trump.
If the goal of the ad was to change public opinion south of the border, many Canadians feel this has been partially accomplished. Approaching half (47%) say that it will have an impact in terms of bringing Americans closer to the Canadian view of these tariffs and away from Trump’s. That said, few feel this will be a major impact (7%) versus a smaller one (40%). More than one-in-three (37%) say it likely will have no impact.
More Key Findings:
- Millions of Canadians say they have seen the ad, in part or in full. Nearly two-thirds say this, with 35 per cent saying they watched the whole thing and 28 per cent viewing a portion.
- Seven-in-10 (71%) say that broadly they don’t feel Trump has any real plan for these negotiations, calling him “irrational and erratic”. One-in-five (19%) give him more credit, saying he’s “methodical and strategic”. This view is held by a much larger portion of Conservatives in Canada (39%).
- Half of Canadians (50%) would support a group of people in this country coordinating a similar ad campaign to run in the U.S. That said, only 8 per cent say they would donate their own money to such a project.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Why poke the bear? How does an inflammatory ad help Canada deal with an emotionally unstable former ally?
Taken in context, Reagan’s public views on tariffs were meant to promote a so-called “free trade” agreement that helped the US far more than Canada.
Overall, Reaganomics wasn’t great for the average person–it made the rich richer and the poor poorer.
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