The first political surveys of young people in Nova Scotia
Youth political participation has been dropping for decades. Before our surveys, there had been no recent research on political opinion, civic literacy and civic engagement among youth in Nova Scotia. Our first report focused on youth political opinion in advance of the 2013 provincial election. Traditional political opinion surveys and polls target landline telephones, which most young people have replaced with mobile phones that are not generally solicited by pollsters in Atlantic Canada. Our second report measured civic literacy among voting aged Nova Scotians, and revealed some troubling findings about how much young people know about politics. Our surveys are meant to provide community leaders, the media, political parties and ourselves with a better understanding of young people’s political opinions, issue priorities, understandings of the democratic process, and ways of engaging. This project is made possible with support from the Democracy 250 Youth Engagement Legacy Trust.