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Since no one judges on Google, our most gossipy, abrupt selves take hold: How much is Pierre Poilievre worth? How tall is Mark Carney? How tall is Pierre Poilievre in feet? Mark Carney wife? Imagine a moderator like Steve Paikin asking any of these at a leadership debate. It feels impossible and awkward. That’s why our height obsession lives on the internet, a collective secret side hobby.聽

Height is beguiling. It is both objective and subjective, public and private, metric and imperial. It’s something you can鈥檛 really control (unless you dabble with lifts or heels) 鈥� and yet it has a strange hold on our collective imagination. U.S. President Donald Trump’s medical records put him at six foot three 鈥� even though some on the internet disagree, posting photos of Trump next to a slightly taller Prince William (also six foot three) as proof.聽 聽Guessing someone’s height 鈥� or debunking assertions of grandeur 鈥� has become a passionate internet obsession. And I wanted to find out why.

How tall you are should have no impact on your leadership potential, and yet, every election cycle, we keep googling. This time it’s “How tall is Mark Carney?” The truly fascinating question is, why do we care?

How tall is Sabrina Carpenter?

Height is a part of online celebrity culture. If you search “Sabrina Carpenter,” Google will automatically include the American singer’s height (1.52 metres) in its search overview. Over on , a passionate community debates morning height versus evening height of the likes of Tom Cruise and Jake Gyllenhaal. There is a section for politicians, but the sole Canadian is former prime minister Justin Trudeau, estimated at six foot one and a half (Elsewhere online he is six foot two). To his left is the slightly taller former U.S. president Bill Clinton. To his right is U.S. Vice-President JD Vance. All of this is a sign that in 2025, we treat our politicians as internet celebrities, says聽Christine Tran, an assistant professor of digital media and game studies at the University of 海角社区官网Mississauga.

The internet was supposed to be a great equalizer, dissolving the differences between our bodies, she says, but a few decades in, the opposite is true. On dating apps, there鈥檚 the 鈥渟ix foot fetishization,鈥� where people often state a romantic preference for men taller than six feet. On TikTok, one user triangulates height using impressive galaxy brain style math which includes subtractions for socks. Part of this obsession, Tran thinks, is a desire to really know someone聽outside of a screen. 鈥淲hat would he be like standing next to me, having a beer with?鈥� she said.聽

But there’s something else. 鈥淟ike it or not, we associate height with power,鈥� she said.

With a small asterisk, every U.S. president going back to 1981 has been taller than six feet. (In 2001, former president George W. Bush’s height was given as a crisp six feet in his White House physical 鈥� but you’ll sometimes see it listed as just under six feet elsewhere.) Even still, Bush is taller than the average U.S. male, which a聽 confirmed is usually the case for American presidents. Examining centuries of military records and voting stats, it found that taller candidates tended to receive more of the popular vote 鈥� although that didn’t mean they were 鈥渟ignificantly more likely鈥� to win an election. (In 2020, both front-runners were over six feet, but Joe Biden defeated the taller Donald Trump and won more of the popular vote.)

Is it a coincidence that so many lanky individuals find themselves in the Oval Office? The study’s authors note that taller men tend to be physically stronger, and “less sensitive to cues of dominance,” which sets them up well for leadership roles since height is associated with “interpersonal dominance.” Over a lifetime, studies have show that height becomes intertwined with other perks like social status, higher wages and professional success. The rest of us seem to have internalized this idea. In one 2011 study, people were asked to draw their ideal national leader next to a regular citizen. Guess who was taller?

Randy Besco, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto, says voters have all kinds of biases. They tend to associate physical ideals, like attractiveness, with interpersonal ideals, like honesty, even if no correlation exists.聽

In that same spirit, 鈥淭all people, I suspect, might be seen as more authoritative and more ministerial, maybe smarter, more honest,鈥� he said 鈥� even if it’s not the case.

The internet’s focus on height is somewhat unusual, but maybe it’s because most voters interact with politicians through a camera lens, Besco says.聽He understands why people don’t Google policy. If you know a leader’s party, you have a pretty good idea where they stand.

鈥淚 wish voters would focus on policy more, and I wish journalists would focus on policy more,鈥� he said, as I lost a half inch of my five foot four and a half inches to shame. 鈥淏ut I understand why that doesn鈥檛 happen.鈥�

How tall is David Eby?

In March, Carney made his first overseas trip as our newly minted prime minister. After he stood next to U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, King Charles and, later, French President Emmanuel Macron, 鈥淗ow tall is Mark Carney,鈥� washed ashore on . It happened again in late March as he stood next to construction workers on the campaign trail, and again in April when he met with B.C. Premier David Eby to talk tariffs and forestry. Unlike most Canadian politicians, Eby鈥檚 six-foot-seven height is a matter of journalistic record. 鈥淵ou might describe me as an unusually tall person, or disturbingly tall person to some people,” he good-naturedly told the media in 2023, when his province introduced a mechanized podium to accommodate the varying heights of his cabinet ministers.聽

In the midst of a trade war and election campaign, Carney has not talked publicly about his height, but that hasn’t stopped the internet. Type “How tall is Mark Carney,鈥� into Google, and the search overview will tell you “1.75 metres.” Google also serves up links to which each list his height at five foot nine in the 1980s and 1990s. There are no similar stats for Poilievre, only a smattering of social media speculation, much of it partisan in nature 鈥� but in photos of the political rivals standing side by side at the campaign debates, Poilievre clearly appears to be taller than Carney.

Carney’s campaign is aware that the internet is a little curious about his height. A source close to the campaign wasn’t sure if Carney had noticed, but said he probably wouldn’t care.

This was my only chance, so I asked it: How tall is Mark Carney?

They weren’t exactly sure, but said the online stats sounded in the right ballpark.

When I suggested they bring a tape measure to the next meeting, they laughed, but did not agree.

This election campaign will end, but the guessing game never will. If set any precedent, our next leader could have his height estimated by the site’s founder, who — along with other methods — poses for photos with celebrities alongside his own five foot eight frame for comparison. But even then, we will not let the matter rest. There is morning height, evening height and sock fabric to consider. We’ll take our theories to the comments.