BELIEFS ABOUT DEMOCRACY AND SATISFACTION WITH DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT -THE CANADIAN CASE

This study uses 1990 Canadian national survey data to investigate publ ic beliefs about democracy and how these affect satisfaction with the operation of an existing democratic political system. Confirmatory fac tor analyses reveal that conceptions of democracy are structured in te rms of four factors-security, opportunities, elections-capitalism, and equality of group influence All four factors affect levels of democra cy satisfaction, controlling for several other influential variables. Consistent with the long-standing, but largely untested, congruence hy pothesis, Canadians whose beliefs about democracy tend to be consisten t with the realities of political life in their country are more satis fied than are those whose beliefs accord less well with prevailing pra ctices.