Q. Overall, do you approve or disapprove of the way the Liberal-National Coalition government is handling the federal budget?
| Total
|
Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | May 2014 | |||
| Total approve | 34% | 12% | 75% | 5% | 19% | 30% | ||
| Total disapprove | 33% | 55% | 5% | 71% | 42% | 52% | ||
| Strongly approve | 8% | 3% | 19% | – | – | 10% | ||
| Approve | 26% | 9% | 56% | 5% | 19% | 20% | ||
| Neither approve nor disapprove | 26% | 28% | 18% | 19% | 34% | 14% | ||
| Disapprove | 19% | 30% | 4% | 35% | 29% | 19% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 14% | 25% | 1% | 36% | 13% | 33% | ||
| Don’t know | 8% | 4% | 2% | 5% | 6% | 4% |
About one third (34%) of respondents approve of the way the Liberal/National Coalition government is handling the federal budget – up 4% compared to last year’s budget. 33% disapprove (down 19%) and 26% neither approve nor disapprove (up 12%).
Labor (55%) and Greens (71%) voters were far more likely to disapprove. Liberal/National voters were more likely to approve (75%).
Those on higher incomes ($1,600+ pw) were more likely to approve (42% approve/28% disapprove).
Q. Do you think Australia’s economy is heading in the right or wrong direction?
|
|
Total
|
Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | May 2010 | May 2011 | Jun 2012 | Apr 2013 | Apr 2014 | Aug 2014 | ||
| The right direction | 35% | 19% | 67% | 9% | 23% | 51% | 45% | 43% | 36% | 39% | 35% | ||
| The wrong direction | 40% | 58% | 14% | 65% | 58% | 25% | 29% | 32% | 39% | 34% | 41% | ||
| Don’t know | 25% | 23% | 19% | 27% | 19% | 24% | 25% | 25% | 25% | 26% | 24% |
35% of respondents think that Australia’s economy is heading in the right direction and 40% think it is heading in the wrong direction. This represents no significant change since this question was asked last August.
19% (down 5%) of Labor voters, 67% (up 11%) of Liberal/National voters and 9% (down 17%) of Greens voters think the economy is heading in the right direction. 58% (up 4%) of Labor voters, 65% (up 11%) of Greens voters and 48% of those earning less than $1,000pw think the economy is heading in the wrong direction.
Q. Does this budget make you feel more confident or less confident in the Government’s ability to manage the economy?
| Total
|
Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Total more confident | 31% | 15% | 60% | 9% | 17% | |
| Total less confident | 31% | 50% | 7% | 58% | 34% | |
| A lot more confident | 7% | 2% | 16% | – | – | |
| A little more confident | 24% | 13% | 44% | 9% | 17% | |
| Makes no difference | 31% | 32% | 28% | 27% | 41% | |
| A little less confident | 14% | 20% | 5% | 26% | 17% | |
| A lot less confident | 17% | 30% | 2% | 32% | 17% | |
| Don’t know | 7% | 4% | 4% | 6% | 7% |
31% say the budget makes them feel more confident in the Government’s ability to manage the economy and 31% say it makes them less confident.
31% say it makes no difference.
There were no substantial differences across demographic groups.
Q. Do you think this budget is better or worse than last year’s budget?
| Total
|
Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Total better | 45% | 39% | 65% | 28% | 43% | |
| Total worse | 15% | 21% | 6% | 33% | 20% | |
| Much better | 11% | 7% | 23% | 1% | 4% | |
| A little better | 34% | 32% | 42% | 27% | 39% | |
| About the same | 31% | 35% | 25% | 31% | 30% | |
| A little worse | 10% | 12% | 5% | 21% | 14% | |
| Much worse | 5% | 9% | 1% | 12% | 6% | |
| Don’t know | 9% | 5% | 4% | 7% | 7% |
45% think this year’s budget is better than last year’s and 15% think it is worse. 31% think it is about the same.
Those most likely to think it is better were Liberal/National voters (65%) and respondents aged 55+ (63%).
Q. In general, do you think the Federal Budget, announced on Tuesday 12th May 2015 will be good or bad for?
| Total good | Total bad
|
Very good | Good | Neither good nor bad | Bad | Very bad | Don’t know | 2014 good | 2014 bad | |||
| You personally | 15% | 28% | 3% | 12% | 48% | 19% | 9% | 9% | 13% | 52% | ||
| Average working people | 22% | 27% | 3% | 19% | 41% | 20% | 7% | 11% | 14% | 59% | ||
| Australian business | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 36% | 23% | ||
| Small businesses | 66% | 6% | 22% | 44% | 18% | 4% | 2% | 11% | – | – | ||
| Big businesses | 34% | 10% | 12% | 22% | 42% | 8% | 2% | 16% | – | – | ||
| The economy over all | 30% | 22% | 5% | 25% | 37% | 16% | 6% | 11% | 40% | 32% | ||
| People who are well off | 36% | 14% | 13% | 23% | 39% | 12% | 2% | 11% | 45% | 16% | ||
| People on lower incomes | 22% | 34% | 3% | 19% | 33% | 21% | 13% | 11% | 11% | 66% | ||
| Australian families | 29% | 27% | 5% | 24% | 34% | 19% | 8% | 11% | 11% | 62% | ||
| Older Australians | 20% | 34% | 3% | 17% | 35% | 23% | 11% | 11% | 10% | 66% | ||
| Younger Australians | 21% | 29% | 3% | 18% | 37% | 20% | 9% | 13% | 16% | 55% |
Two thirds (66%) of respondents think the budget will be good for small businesses.
Respondents also thought the budget was more likely to be good for big businesses (34% good/10% bad), the economy overall (30%/22%) and people who are well off (36%/14%).
Compared to last year’s budget, this year’s budget was considered better (or less bad) for all groups except the economy overall where good has dropped from 40% to 30% – and bad has dropped similarly, from 32% to 22%. For all groups, those who say the budget will be neither good nor bad has increased.
Q. Please indicate whether – in general – you agree with the following statements about the Federal budget that was handed down on Tuesday 12th May.
| Total agree | Total dis-
agree
|
Strongly agree | Agree | Neither | Dis-
agree |
Strongly dis-
agree |
Don’t know | ||
| Overall, the budget is fair and balanced | 28% | 32% | 4% | 24% | 28% | 21% | 11% | 12% | |
| This budget does not do enough to reduce the deficit | 37% | 18% | 10% | 27% | 30% | 15% | 3% | 14% | |
| This was the budget Australia needs at this time | 28% | 31% | 4% | 24% | 28% | 19% | 12% | 14% | |
| This budget favours businesses over workers | 47% | 12% | 16% | 31% | 28% | 10% | 2% | 13% | |
| This budget fixes the problems in last year’s budget | 20% | 37% | 3% | 17% | 29% | 26% | 11% | 14% | |
| This budget is more about improving the Government’s popularity than improving the economy | 50% | 19% | 22% | 28% | 20% | 13% | 6% | 11% |
About half the respondents agree that the budget is “more about improving the Government’s popularity than improving the economy” (50%) and that the budget “favours businesses over workers” (47%). They were also more likely to think that the budget “does not do enough to reduce the deficit” (37% agree/18% disagree).
They were more likely to disagree that “this budget fixes the problems in last year’s budget” (20% agree/37% disagree) but split over whether the budget is “fair and balanced” or is “the budget Australia needs at this time”.
Q. Some people say that there is a “budget emergency” in Australia. Which of the following is closest to your view?
| Total
|
Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | May 2014 | |||
| I agree that there is a ‘budget emergency’ in Australia, and I believe that the recently announced budget changes will help bring the budget back into line. | 19% | 9% | 39% | 1% | 8% | 32% | ||
| I agree that there is a ‘budget emergency’ in Australia, but I don’t think the recently announced budget changes will help bring the budget back into line. | 32% | 34% | 32% | 26% | 42% | 24% | ||
| I do not believe we have a budget emergency in Australia | 30% | 40% | 19% | 54% | 31% | 32% | ||
| Don’t know | 19% | 17% | 10% | 19% | 19% | 11% |
Overall, 51% of Australians agree that there is a budget emergency – down 5% since this time last year.
19% agree that there is a budget emergency and that the recent budget will help bring the budget back into line – down 13%. 32% (up 8%) agree that there is a budget emergency, but that the recent budget will not bring the budget back into line.
30% (down 2%) do not believe there is a budget emergency.
Labor (40%) and Greens (54%) voters were more likely to think that we do not have a budget emergency in Australia.
federal politics voting intention
Q. If a Federal Election was held today to which party will you probably give your first preference vote? If not sure, which party are you currently leaning toward?
Q. If don’t know -Well which party are you currently leaning to?
Sample size = 1,773 respondents
| First preference/leaning to | Election 7 Sep 13 | 4 weeks ago14/4/15 | 2 weeks ago 28/4/15 | Last week5/5/15 | This week 12/5/15 | |
| Liberal | 37% | 36% | 37% | 38% | ||
| National | 3% | 4% | 3% | 3% | ||
| Total Liberal/National | 45.6% | 41% | 40% | 40% | 41% | |
| Labor | 33.4% | 39% | 39% | 39% | 39% | |
| Greens | 8.6% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 11% | |
| Palmer United Party | 5.5% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% | |
| Other/Independent | 6.9% | 9% | 9% | 9% | 8% |
| 2 Party Preferred | Election 7 Sep 13 | 4 weeks ago14/4/15 | 2 weeks ago 28/4/15 | Last week5/5/15 | This week 12/5/15 | |
| Liberal National | 53.5% | 48% | 47% | 47% | 48% | |
| Labor | 46.5% | 52% | 53% | 53% | 52% |
NB. The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived from the first preference/leaning to voting questions. Respondents who select ‘don’t know’ are not included in the results. The two-party preferred estimate is calculated by distributing the votes of the other parties according to their preferences at the 2013 election.