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  • May, 2011

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    Perceived Impact of Budget

    Q. Do you think the Federal Budget was good or bad for you personally?

    Q. Do you think the Federal Budget was good or bad for Australian businesses?

    Q. Do you think the Federal Budget was good or bad for the Australian economy overall?

    You personally Businesses The economy overall
    2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011
    Total good 22% 11% 27% 20% 36% 27%
    Total bad 26% 29% 32% 25% 28% 29%
    Very good 3% 2% 3% 3% 6% 4%
    Good 19% 9% 24% 17% 30% 23%
    Neither good nor bad 33% 44% 9% 31% 10% 25%
    Bad 18% 21% 22% 19% 18% 21%
    Very bad 8% 8% 10% 6% 10% 8%
    Don’t know 20% 16% 31% 23% 26% 20%

    Overall there was a less positive response to the 2011 budget than to the 2010 budget. The main differences were that respondents were less likely to rate the budget good and more likely to think it was neither good nor bad. The proportions who thought it was bad were similar to last year.

    44% of respondents thought the Federal budget was nether good nor bad for them personally – 11% said it was good and 29% bad. The only substantial differences by demographics were that 51% of respondents aged 55+ thought it was nether good nor bad.

    25% thought the budget was bad for business, 20% good and 31% said it was neither. 35% of Labor voters said it was good for business and 45% of Liberal/National voters said it was bad.

    Respondents were split over whether it was good or bad for the economy overall – 27% said it was good and 29% bad. Labor voters split 50% good/9% bad compared to Liberal/National voters at 12% good/51% bad.

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  • May, 2011

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    Economy Heading in the Right/Wrong Direction

    Q. Overall, from what you have read and heard, do you think the Australian economy is heading in the right direction or the wrong direction?

    Post budget 2010 Pre budget 2011 Post budget 2011 Vote Labor Vote Liberal/ National Vote Greens
    The right direction 51% 45% 46% 74% 30% 46%
    The wrong direction 25% 29% 29% 9% 49% 24%
    Don’t know 24% 25% 25% 17% 21% 30%

    Nearly half (46%) the respondents think that Australia’s economy is heading in the right direction – 29% think it is heading in the wrong direction.

    This was a little less positive than the post 2010 budget poll, but unchanged from the poll taken before the 2011 budget – which suggests that the budget has had no impact on overall perceptions of the economy.

    74% of Labor voters, 30% of Liberal/National voters and 46% of Greens voters think the economy is heading in the right direction.

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  • May, 2011

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    Party Best at Handling Economy

    Q. Which party do you think would be best at handling the Australian economy in the interests of you and people like you?

    Post budget 2010 Post budget 2011 Vote Labor Vote Liberal/ National Vote Greens
    Labor Party 33% 30% 75% 3% 36%
    Liberal Party 36% 40% 4% 84% 11%
    No difference 20% 22% 17% 10% 46%
    Don’t know 11% 9% 4% 3% 7%

    30% think Labor the party best to handle the economy (in the interests of you and people like you) and 40% nominated the Liberal Party. This represents a shift of 7% in favour of the Liberal Party since the 2010 budget.

    75% of Labor voters nominated Labor and 84% of Coalition voters nominated the Liberal Party. 46% of Greens voters said there was no difference – 36% said Labor and 11% Liberal.

    Those with incomes under $600 pw favour Labor 32% to 30% while those on $1,600+ pw favour the Liberals 49% to 29%.

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  • May, 2011

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    Processing Asylum Seekers

    Q.  The Government has announced two possible agreements with Malaysia and Papua New Guinea on asylum seekers. Under these agreements, asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia will be sent to either Malaysia or PNG for processing, and in return Australia will take a fixed number of refugees from Malaysia.

    Do you support or oppose the Government’s plan to send asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia to PNG and Malaysia?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Liberal/ National Vote Greens
    Total support 40% 55% 40% 29%
    Total oppose 40% 25% 49% 53%
    Strongly support 11% 16% 12% 5%
    Support 29% 39% 28% 24%
    Oppose 20% 16% 19% 33%
    Strongly oppose 20% 9% 30% 20%
    Don’t know 19% 20% 12% 17%

    Respondents were divided over the Government’s plan to send asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia to PNG and Malaysia – 40% support and 40% oppose. Labor voters were more likely to support the plan (55%) while Greens voters were most likely to oppose it (53%).

    There were no substantial differences by demographic groups.

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  • May, 2011

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    Processing Asylum Seekers

    Q. Do you support or oppose the Government’s plan to send asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia to PNG and Malaysia if it means it will cost taxpayers substantially more than it would if we just processed asylum seekers on the mainland in Australia?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Liberal/ National Vote Greens
    Total support 24% 35% 23% 15%
    Total oppose 60% 49% 66% 69%
    Strongly support 6% 8% 6% 3%
    Support 18% 27% 17% 12%
    Oppose 29% 31% 25% 35%
    Strongly oppose 31% 18% 41% 34%
    Don’t know 16% 16% 11% 16%

    Respondents were more likely to oppose the plan to send asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia to PNG and Malaysia if it means it will cost taxpayers substantially more than it would if we just processed asylum seekers on the mainland in Australia – 24% support and 60% oppose.

    Labor voters showed the largest shift in opinion if increased cost to taxpayers was taken into account  – their opposition increased from 25% to 49%.

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  • May, 2011

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    Federal Budget Expectations

    Q. Overall, do you expect the Federal Budget to be good or bad for you personally?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Men Women Age

    18-34

    Aged

    35-54

    Aged 55+
    Total good 12% 21% 9% 7% 10% 14% 22% 8% 5%
    Total bad 35% 18% 50% 33% 40% 30% 21% 40% 43%
    Very good 2% 2% 2% 1% 2% 3% 1% *
    Good 10% 19% 7% 7% 9% 12% 19% 7% 5%
    Neither good nor bad 44% 54% 36% 53% 43% 44% 45% 42% 46%
    Bad 27% 16% 37% 25% 30% 23% 17% 30% 32%
    Very bad 8% 2% 13% 8% 10% 7% 4% 10% 11%
    Don’t know 9% 7% 6% 7% 6% 12% 11% 10% 6%

    35% expect the Federal Budget will be bad for them personally and 12% expect it will be good – 44% think it will be neither.

    Labor voters are split – 21% good/18% bad while 50% of Liberal/National voters expect it will be bad and only 9% expect it will be good.

    Younger voters are more optimistic than older voters – those aged under 35 are split 22% good/21% bad while 43% of over 55’s expect it will be bad and only 5% good. By income, the only major difference from the average is that 45% of people on incomes under $600 pw expect it will be bad for them.

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  • May, 2011

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    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 =1,856

    First preference/leaning to Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago 2 weeks ago Last week This week
    Liberal 43% 43% 44% 44%
    National 3% 4% 3% 3%
    Total Lib/Nat 43.6 46% 47% 47% 47%
    Labor 38.0 35% 35% 35% 35%
    Greens 11.8 11% 10% 9% 10%
    Other/Independent 6.6 8% 8% 9% 8%
    2PP Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago 2 weeks ago Last week This week
    Total Lib/Nat 49.9% 53% 54% 54% 54%
    Labor 50.1% 47% 46% 46% 46%

    NB.  The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived 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.

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  • May, 2011

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    Approval of Julia Gillard

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister?

    Kevin Rudd Julia Gillard
    31 May

    2010

    5 Jul 19 Jul 16 Aug 20 Sep 18 Oct 22 Nov 20 Dec 17 Jan 2011 14 Feb 14 Mar 11 Apr 9 May
    Total approve 41% 48% 52% 46% 45% 45% 43% 43% 51% 48% 41% 37% 41%
    Total disapprove 47% 27% 30% 40% 37% 37% 38% 40% 36% 41% 46% 50% 48%
    Strongly approve 7% 14% 11% 13% 12% 10% 7% 10% 8% 9% 7% 7% 7%
    Approve 34% 34% 41% 33% 33% 36% 36% 33% 43% 39% 34% 30% 34%
    Disapprove 25% 13% 17% 24% 21% 20% 23% 24% 24% 25% 22% 25% 26%
    Strongly disapprove 22% 14% 13% 16% 16% 17% 15% 16% 12% 16% 24% 25% 22%
    Don’t know 12% 26% 18% 13% 19% 18% 18% 17% 14% 11% 13% 13% 11%

    41% (up 4%) approve of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister and 48% (down 2% disapprove – a change in net rating from -13 to -7 over the last 4 weeks.

    86% of Labor voters approve (up 8%) and 10% disapprove (down 2%).

    By gender – men 38% approve/55% disapprove, women 45% approve/41% disapprove.

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