Party with Better Policies
Q. Which party do you think has the better policies for the following groups of people?
|
Labor Party |
Liberal Party |
No difference |
Don’t know |
|
| Pensioners |
32% |
21% |
30% |
17% |
| Unemployed people |
36% |
18% |
29% |
17% |
| People with disabilities |
32% |
16% |
30% |
22% |
| Carers |
30% |
18% |
30% |
22% |
| People on low incomes |
40% |
18% |
26% |
16% |
| All working people |
29% |
30% |
26% |
15% |
The Labor Party was thought to have better policies than the Liberal Party on all issues except “all working people” where both parties had similar ratings. In particular the Labor Party was thought to have better policies for people on low incomes (40% Labor/18% Liberal), unemployed people (36%/18%) and people with disabilities (32%/16%).
Of those aged 55+, 40% thought Labor had better policies for pensioners and 23% thought the Liberals had better policies.
30% think the Liberals have better policies for all working people and 29% think Labor has better policies. Full-time workers are more likely to think The Liberals have better policies (37% Liberal/24% Labor) which part-time workers are more likely to favour Labor (37% Labor/29% Liberal).
Attributes of the Labor Party
Q. Here is a list of things both favourable and unfavourable that have been said about various political parties. Which statements do you feel fit the Labor Party?
|
6 Jul 09 |
14 Mar 10
|
27 April 11
|
28 May 12 |
% change |
|
| Divided |
30% |
36% |
66% |
73% |
+7% |
| Will promise to do anything to win votes |
57% |
63% |
72% |
70% |
-2% |
| Out of touch with ordinary people |
44% |
48% |
61% |
58% |
-3% |
| Moderate |
65% |
63% |
51% |
50% |
-1% |
| Looks after the interests of working people |
|
|
39% |
47% |
+8% |
| Understands the problems facing Australia |
62% |
54% |
40% |
46% |
+6% |
| Have a vision for the future |
|
|
43% |
41% |
-2% |
| Too close to the big corporate and financial interests |
|
|
46% |
36% |
-10% |
| Extreme |
25% |
26% |
38% |
31% |
-7% |
| Clear about what they stand for |
|
|
28% |
31% |
+3% |
| Has a good team of leaders |
60% |
52% |
34% |
29% |
-5% |
| Keeps its promises |
44% |
33% |
20% |
22% |
+2% |
The Labor Party’s main attributes were – divided (73%), will promise anything to win votes (70%), out of touch with ordinary people (58%) and moderate (50%).
Main changes since last April were – too close to the big corporate and financial interests (down 10% to 36%), looks after the interests of working people (up 8% to 47%), divided (up 7% to 73%), extreme (down 7% to 31%) and understands the problems facing Australia (up 6% to 46%).
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 average working people?
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 |
Working people |
Australian businesses |
Economy overall |
|||||||
|
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2012 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
|
| Total good |
22% |
11% |
17% |
31% |
27% |
20% |
10% |
36% |
27% |
26% |
| Total bad |
26% |
29% |
26% |
24% |
32% |
25% |
43% |
28% |
29% |
32% |
| Very good |
3% |
2% |
2% |
4% |
3% |
3% |
1% |
6% |
4% |
4% |
| Good |
19% |
9% |
15% |
27% |
24% |
17% |
9% |
30% |
23% |
22% |
| Neither good nor bad |
33% |
44% |
44% |
33% |
9% |
31% |
29% |
10% |
25% |
25% |
| Bad |
18% |
21% |
17% |
19% |
22% |
19% |
28% |
18% |
21% |
21% |
| Very bad |
8% |
8% |
9% |
5% |
10% |
6% |
15% |
10% |
8% |
11% |
| Don’t know |
20% |
16% |
12% |
12% |
31% |
23% |
18% |
26% |
20% |
17% |
In terms of the economy overall there was a similar response to the 2012 budget compared to last year’s. 26% (down 1%) thought the economy was good for the economy and 32% (up 3%) thought it was bad.
44% of respondents thought the Federal budget was neither good nor bad for them personally – 17% (up 6%) said it was good and 26% (down 3%) bad. 28% of respondents aged 35-44 thought it was good for them while 38% of those aged 55+ thought it was bad.
31% thought it was good for working people and 24% thought it was bad. 35% of part-time workers thought it was good for working people.
43% (up 18%) thought the budget was bad for business, 10% (down 10%) good and 29% said it was neither.
Opinion of Unions
Q. Overall, do you think unions have been good or bad for Australian working people?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Work full time |
Work part time |
|
| Total good |
48% |
72% |
31% |
70% |
48% |
48% |
| Total bad |
17% |
6% |
31% |
3% |
18% |
18% |
| Very good |
12% |
26% |
4% |
21% |
13% |
10% |
| Good |
36% |
46% |
27% |
49% |
35% |
38% |
| Neither good nor bad |
28% |
19% |
34% |
16% |
28% |
29% |
| Bad |
11% |
4% |
19% |
3% |
12% |
10% |
| Very bad |
6% |
2% |
12% |
- |
6% |
8% |
| Don’t know |
6% |
3% |
4% |
10% |
6% |
5% |
48% think that unions have been good for Australian working people, 17% think they have been bad, and 28% think they have been neither good nor bad.
72% of Labor voters and 70% of Greens voters think they have been good and Liberal/National voters are split 31% good/31% bad.
There was no difference between the views of workers and non-workers and very little difference be age, gender or income.
Importance of Unions
Q. And how important are unions for Australian working people today?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Work full time |
Work part time |
|
| Total very/quite important |
56% |
80% |
39% |
71% |
55% |
57% |
| Very important |
19% |
34% |
8% |
31% |
18% |
16% |
| Quite important |
37% |
46% |
31% |
40% |
37% |
41% |
| Not very important |
27% |
12% |
39% |
21% |
30% |
31% |
| Not at all important |
8% |
2% |
16% |
- |
8% |
8% |
| Don’t know |
9% |
6% |
6% |
7% |
7% |
5% |
56% think that unions are very or quite important for Australian working people today.
80% of Labor voters and 71% of Greens voters think they are important compared to only 39% of Liberal/National voters.
There was little difference by age and gender groups – but those on lower incomes were a little more likely to think unions are important (63% of those earning less than $1,000pw).
Essential Report
Two Party Preferred: 13 May 2013
In this week's report:
3Q: Latest episodes
-
Essential Report with EMC’s Peter Lewis and Jackie Woods
Comments19 Sep 2012Lewis and Woods talk through this week’s polling numbers: voting intention, leader attributes, drug laws in Australia, and more…
-
Are we ready for the grey revolution?
Comments12 Sep 2012Ken Morrison says our cities need to be transformed for our ageing population – and it’s not solely about nursing homes.
-
Ships, trains and submarines — can we build them here?
Comments11 Sep 2012Tim Ayres wishes Clive Palmer and other mining giants would give local manufacturers a go instead of heading overseas.
-
Do we undervalue our public sector innovations?
Comments11 Sep 2012Nadine Flood questions whether governments take our science and other publicly funded breakthroughs for granted.
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