Americans reject renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America
Americans largely reject President Trump's push to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America and his new Canada tariffs. Reuters/Ipsos and Economist/YouGov polls show clear majorities oppose the rename, while most also oppose higher tariffs on Canadian goods—even as partisan views of Canada harden ahead of a Sept. 7 trade deadline.
Key Takeaways
- Reuters/Ipsos finds 63% of Americans oppose renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America; only 14% support it.
- Economist/YouGov finds 68% disapprove of the Lake Ontario Lake America proposal, including many Republicans.
- Majorities also oppose new U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods amid a 50% levy dispute.
- A record 38% of Republicans now call Canada unfriendly or an enemy, per YouGov.
- Canada treats the trade fight as existential; many Americans barely notice, Fox News opinion notes.
President Trump signed an executive order directing Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to rename Lake Ontario "Lake America" for U.S. federal usage, escalating a feud after trade talks collapsed and Washington imposed steep new tariffs. Polling covered by Axios shows the symbolic rename is not selling with the public.
Do Americans support renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America?
No. A late-August Reuters/Ipsos survey of 1,023 U.S. adults found 63% opposed the executive order and 14% supported it, with about one in five unsure. Even among Republicans, more opposed (43%) than supported (33%) the change. Vast majorities of Democrats (84%) and independents (65%) opposed it.
An Economist/YouGov poll similarly found 68% strongly or somewhat disapprove of renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America, versus 17% who approve. MAGA Republicans are the clearest exception: 47% approve and 29% disapprove, while non-MAGA Republicans disapprove 67% to 22%.
Are Americans behind Trump's Canada tariffs?
Most are not. Reuters/Ipsos found 57% opposed new tariffs on Canadian goods and only 20% supported them. YouGov reported 58% opposed raising tariffs on Canadian imports and 26% supported doing so, with Democrats (87%) and independents (64%) strongly opposed versus 25% of Republicans.
YouGov also found 68% of Americans say Trump's tariffs have hurt average Americans. Canada is set to retaliate against a 50% U.S. tariff on some $20 billion of Canadian goods, Axios reported. Ipsos found 46% blame the U.S. more for the dispute versus 12% who blame Canada, and just 4% expect a mostly positive personal financial impact.
Why does the U.S.–Canada fight feel so one-sided?
Public intensity differs sharply. YouGov shows a record-high 22% of Americans now view Canada as unfriendly or an enemy—driven largely by Republicans, 38% of whom hold that view. Yet in a Fox News opinion column, David Marcus argues Canadians see the trade war as "life and death" while most Americans barely notice it, with a Sept. 7 deal-or-sanctions deadline looming.
That gap matters for negotiations between Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney: Ottawa feels existential pressure; U.S. voters, polling suggests, want de-escalation more than theater. For more answer-first explainers across BlasterPost, see our Longevity & Biohacking hub.