Americans hate both ‘Lake America’ and Trump’s trade war with Canada
A recent Reuters-Ipsos poll indicates that Americans strongly oppose President Trump's trade tariffs on Canada and his executive order to rename Lake Ontario as 'Lake America.' The survey shows that even within the Republican party, there is significant disapproval of these initiatives.
Why it matters
The findings suggest a potential political liability for the Trump administration heading into the 2026 midterm elections due to the unpopularity of his foreign trade and domestic branding policies.
President Donald Trump has dropped another clunker in the laps of his fellow Republicans in the run-up to the 2026 midterm elections. His new trade war with Canada and his related move to change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” are the latest in a series of unpopular actions. In fact, new polling suggests they’re even more unpopular than Trump’s previous tariffs and efforts to rename things. A Reuters-Ipsos poll conducted in recent days is the first quality survey to test Trump’s renewed clash with Canada. It shows Americans oppose the president’s executive order to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America” 63% to 14%, with the rest undecided. That more than 4-to-1 margin is more lopsided than when Trump moved to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” last year. Back then, polls showed more than 7 in 10 Americans opposed it.
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