Source: Samoa Govt press release
Apia, SAMOA — A pioneering survey of popular political attitudes in the Pacific – the Pacific Attitudes Survey (PAS) Samoa – was released Thursday, June 9 in Apia.
The PAS gauges the views of ordinary Samoan citizens on a range of questions related to democracy, economics, governance, tradition, trust in institutions, climate change, social media, and international relations.
Conducted in Samoa from December 2020-January 2021 by the National University of Samoa (NUS), and drawing on a nationally representative sample of 1319 Samoans of voting age, the Pacific Attitudes Survey: Samoa report represents the culmination of a three-way partnership between the Australian National University, the National University of Samoa, and Swinburne University of Technology. The project was funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Pacific Research Program.
While large-scale popular political attitudes surveys have been conducted globally for several decades, the Pacific region has remained a notable exception, until now. Drawing upon core modules of the popular Global Barometer Survey (GBS) to allow for international comparability, the PAS also adds a host of new questions of specific relevance pertinent to Pacific contexts.
Findings from the PAS provide an important frame of reference for key issues in Pacific politics; including how ordinary citizens engage with and trust their political institutions, their broader understandings of democracy and tradition, and attitudes to key issues like climate change.
(Source: Govt of Samoa press release}
