“Voters have turned against Donald Trump’s crusade against Canada, rejecting his rebranding of Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’ by more than two to one,” wrote The Daily Mail’s Phillip Nieto on Tuesday. “A new Daily Mail/JL Partners poll finds only 20 percent of Americans support the name change, while 46 percent oppose it. Even Americans who previously voted for Trump in 2024 only supported it by 33 percent, while 31 percent rejected the name change.”
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Nieto added, “Trump first floated the name last week after trade negotiations between the two countries collapsed. He declared that the US did not expect to be ‘doing much business with Ontario any longer.’ He followed through two days later with an executive order directing the federal government to use ‘Lake America.’ Soon after, Washington slapped 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian goods and Ottawa announced retaliatory levies of its own.”
The journalist added, “A trade war to the north could also deepen Trump’s midterm headache as Republicans fight to protect their small congressional majorities. The Iran war has already pushed oil above $90 a barrel, and gas past $4 a gallon for most Americans. Just thirty-two percent of voters supported the new tariffs against Canada, with 36 percent opposing the levies. Thirty-seven percent blame US officials for the breakdown, compared with just 14 percent who fault Canada. However, 31 percent hold both sides equally responsible.”
Similarly, Nieto reported that “Trump’s repeated talk of absorbing Canada as the 51st state also remains fringe, backed by 21 percent of Americans and 31 percent of his voters. The poll was conducted between August 28-31 among 1,015 registered US voters online with a margin of error of 3.1 percent.”
Beyond the polls, there is anecdotal evidence that Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario is losing him support among his political base.
“The real reason Trump made the move, [is to] ‘distract you from the fact that we’re in a war that we can’t win in Iran,'” said right-wing podcaster and Trump supporter Joe Rogan on Tuesday.
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Rogan went on to assert that the renaming ‘doesn’t make any sense’ otherwise: ‘Like, who cares? It’s Lake Ontario. It’s a good name. We’ve had that name forever.'”
Similarly, Slate’s Ben Jacobs wrote on Monday that Trump is losing his political touch, pointing out that “throughout his political career, Trump’s signature skill has been to drive the conversation where he wanted it to go. He declares victory when things have not been won. He ducks attribution with the rhetorical tic ‘many people are saying,’ frequently followed by things that people are decidedly not saying. He posts outrageous graphics on social media.”
Jacobs added, “And, of course, he renames things: Political opponents get nicknames, buildings get Trump’s name, and bodies of water get America’s name.”
Attorney Seth Abramson has even characterized Trump’s actions as being a literal war against Canada.“The argument that Trump invaded Canada today is more compelling than many realize,” Abramson wrote. “The border between Canada and the U.S. runs through the middle of Lake Ontario. By claiming to have the power to rename the entire lake, Trump is claiming the lake. That’s invasion by declaration.”
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