Q. Overall, has multiculturalism (that is, the acceptance of people from different countries, cultures and religions) made a positive or negative contribution to Australian society?
Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Feb 2011 | Sep 2014 | Mar 2015 | |||
Total positive | 61% | 66% | 66% | 74% | 48% | 57% | 57% | 57% | ||
Total negative | 23% | 21% | 22% | 15% | 38% | 29% | 30% | 29% | ||
Very positive | 17% | 21% | 13% | 35% | 11% | 15% | 18% | 18% | ||
Positive | 44% | 45% | 53% | 39% | 37% | 42% | 39% | 39% | ||
Negative | 15% | 15% | 14% | 9% | 20% | 18% | 19% | 18% | ||
Very negative | 8% | 6% | 8% | 6% | 18% | 11% | 11% | 11% | ||
Made no difference | 7% | 9% | 5% | 3% | 8% | 6% | 6% | 6% | ||
Don’t know | 9% | 5% | 5% | 7% | 6% | 8% | 6% | 9% |
61% believe that multiculturalism has made a positive contribution to Australian society and 23% believe the contribution has been negative. This is the most positive view of multiculturalism since this question was asked in 2011.
Older respondents tend to have a somewhat more negative view – those aged 65+ were split 55% positive/34% negative while those aged under 35 were 67% positive and 16% negative.