Samara Democracy Reports

Since 2011, Samara has undertaken research into the state of our political process, which we're presenting in a series of reports. These Samara Democracy Reports are designed to increase Canadians’ understanding of politics, investigate commonly held assumptions, provoke questions and elevate the discussion on the health of Canadian political and democratic participation in Canada.

The latest report "By Invitation Only: Canadians' Perceptions of Political Parties" examines how Canadians participate politically beyond voting. It's available to read here.

Previous reports include:

• "Lightweights? Political Participation Beyond the Ballot Box" examined how Canadians participate politically beyond voting (July 2013).
  
• "Lost in Translation or Just Lost?" examined the debates of the House of Commons and compared them to Canadians' priorities (February 2013).
• "Who's the Boss?: Canadians' Views on Their Democracy" showed that Canadians' satisfaction with their democracy has dropped 20 points in eight years and looked at one source of that dissatisfaction: MPs' priorities (December 2012).
• "The Neighbourhoods of #cdnpoli" analyzed how Canadian politics was discussed on Twitter (June 2011)
• "Occupiers and Legislators: A Snapshot of Political Media Coverage" offered a report on the state of our public affairs journalism (June 2011)
• "The Real Outsiders: Politically Disengaged Views of Politics and Democracy" collected the feelings of disengaged voters about why they chose not to participate in politics. (December 2011)

Our research will culminate in a yearly Samara Index, which we envision as a tool to help illuminate how politics works, specifically focusing on the relationship between citizens and the political process.