Choice of airline

Q. Which of the following best describes your airline preference when booking air travel?

Based on respondents who travel by air at least once a year

34% of respondents who travel by air at least once a year said they usually try to fly Qantas, 20% try to avoid flying Qantas and 43% don’t care either way.

42% of regular flyers usually try to fly Qantas.

Population growth

Q. Australia’s population has now reached 23 million and is growing by more than 300,000 a year. Do you think Australia’s population growth rate is too fast, too slow or about right?

45% think Australia’s population growth rate is too fast, 5% think it is too slow and 37% about right.

Those most likely to think it is too fast were Liberal/National voters (50%), aged 45-64 (51%) and incomes under $1,000pw (55%).

Anzac Day

Q. Thursday 25^th April was/is Anzac Day.  Which of the following best describes what you did (or will do) on Anzac Day?

17% of respondents said they attended an Anzac day event and 36% said they watched a march on TV. 42% said it was just a holiday or were working.

Only 11% of those aged under 35 attended an event compared to 22% of those aged 55+.

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 = 1,905 respondents

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 2010 election. These estimates have a confidence interval of approx. plus or minus 2-3%.

War against Iraq

Q. It is now 10 years since Australia went to war in Iraq. Do you think it was the right or wrong decision for Australia to go to war against Iraq?

51% believe Australia made the wrong decision to go to war in Iraq and 23% think it was the right decision.

Those most likely to say it was the wrong decision were Greens voters (76%), Labor voters (56%) and people aged 45-64 (56%).

30% of Liberal/National voters and 30% of men thought it was the right decision.

Reason for war against Iraq

Q. What do you think was the main reason John Howard’ s Government joined the war in Iraq?

A majority (56%) thought that the main reason Australia joined the war in Iraq was to support the USA. Only 18% thought the main reason was that they believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Those most likely to think that the main reason was they believed  Iraq had weapons of mass destruction were Liberal/National voters (26%) and people aged 65+ (30%).

John Howard’s reason for war against Iraq

Q.  John Howard has said that regardless of whether Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction or not, the decision was right because it was in Australia’s national interests, and the removal of Saddam Hussein’s regime provided the Iraqi people with opportunities for freedom. Do you agree or disagree?

44% agreed and 37% disagreed with John Howard’s argument that regardless of whether Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction or not, the decision was right because it was in Australia’s national interests, and the removal of Saddam Hussein’s regime provided the Iraqi people with opportunities for freedom.

58% of Liberal/National voters agreed while 58% of Greens voters and 50% of Labor voters disagreed.

Same sex marriage

Q. Do you think people of the same sex should or should not be allowed to marry?

There has been little movement in the figures since the last time the question was polled last September: with a 1% decrease in those in favour of same sex marriage (54%) and a 3% decrease in those opposed (33%).

There has been little movement in the results in the two years since the question was first polled in November 2010.

Those most in favour of same sex marriage were Greens voters (89%), Labor voters (64%) and women (62%). 44% of Liberal/National voters, 40% of men and 50% of people aged 65+ opposed.

Opinion of Gonski report recommendations

Q. The Gonski report on funding education has recommended a new model for school funding that would mean all students are entitled to a set level of funding regardless of where they go to school, disadvantaged schools receive more funding and taxpayer funding for private schools is adjusted down based on parents’ capacity to pay.

Do you support or oppose these recommendations?

62% say they support the recommendations of the Gonski report on funding education and 18% were opposed. Support has weakened very slightly (-3%) since this question was asked last July.

Strongest support was shown by Labor voters (77%) and Greens voters (76%).

Since last July, support from Liberal/National voters has dropped from 59% to 49% and opposition increased from 20% to 31%.

Government’s plan for education funding

Q. The Government has announced a plan to implement the Gonski recommendations by providing substantially increased funding for public schools, some increased funding for private schools and some reduction in funding for universities. Do you approve or disapprove of the Government’s plan?

40% approved the Government’s plan for implementing the Gonski recommendations and 43% disapproved. 60% of Labor voters approved and 59% of Liberal/National voters disapproved. Greens voters were split.

By income, for those earning $600-$1,600pw, 47% approve and 37% disapprove while for those earning over $1,600 pw, 36% approve and 50% disapprove.

Spending by a Liberal Government

Q. If the Liberal Party won Government at the next election, do you think they would increase or decrease spending on the following areas or spend about the same as the Labor Government?

Overall, respondents were more likely to think a Liberal Government would reduce spending on welfare support, the arts, the environment, foreign aid, pensions, public schools and universities. They were more likely to think they would increase spending on  border security, defence and subsidies for business.

Liberal voters thought a Liberal Government would be more likely to increase than decrease spending on public schools, manufacturing industries, pensions, public transport, health and hospitals, defence, roads, border security and subsidies for business.