SES Research did a poll and just released the results (I get their results emailed to me), and confirmed what me and people like me who run web sites and ask for support already knew: few Canadians care quite as much as they say they do about politics in Canada. Nudge. Wink.
Only one in five have ever joined a political party! So if most conservatives would simply join the Conservative Party, for example, that would apparently boost that party’s strength enormously. Hey it might even be a way to, you know, “win an election”… if you’re into that sort of thing.
Polling was done August 4th to August 8th, 2005 through a random telephone survey of 1,000 Canadians.
Question: “Outside of elections, have you ever taken part in any of the follow activities?” (Yes answers)
Signed a petition – 57%
Attended a town hall meeting – 38%
Wrote a letter to an elected official – 32%
Joined a demonstration – 22%
Joined a political party – 21%
Question: “Outside of elections, have you ever taken part in any of the follow activities?”
One activity – 22%
Two activities – 26%
Three activities – 18%
Four activities – 8%
Five activities – 2%
No activities – 24%
Commentary included with the release:
The poll took five forms of political activism and examined how often people have engaged in them. Just over half of Canadians said they have signed a petition in the past. A little more than a third of them said they have attended a town hall meeting. Fewer still reported having written a letter to an elected official. In fact, two activities most often associated with political awareness, taking part in a demonstration and registering with a political party, drew the fewest participants. Among poll respondents, 22% said they have joined a demonstration and 21% said they had become members of a political party.
Research also indicates that that one of four Canadians (24%) have never engaged in any of the five political activities identified in the poll.
“The fact that one of four Canadians is fully disengaged from traditional forms of participation means that there is definitely room for new innovative ideas,” said SES President Nik Nanos.“Democratic renewal could be a huge political opportunity for our leaders and parties.”
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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