Canadians have a quite glum view of the near future for Canada’s social and economic situation, with only one person in four expressing optimism and significantly more expressing pessimism, but Canadians’ views of their own personal fortunes are much rosier, according to a new polling project.

This strange divergence of attitudes — happy about home, gloomy about country — is also driven by geographical differences, and by a clear partisan split between pessimistic Conservative supporters and optimistic Liberals.

The national mood seems “somewhat apprehensive,” said Andrew Enns, executive vice-president, central Canada, at polling firm Leger, which conducted the poll between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2 , just before the release of the federal budget.

“This feeling of uncertainty and apprehensio

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