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Government’s handling of asylum seekers

12 Aug 2014

Q. Which of the following words would you use to describe the Government’s handling of the issue of asylum seekers? 

 

Total

 

Vote Labor

Vote Lib/Nat

Vote Greens

Vote Other

 

Men

Women

Aged 18-34

Aged 35-54

Aged 55+

Responsible

45%

26%

75%

14%

42%

50%

40%

30%

43%

64%

Fair

45%

25%

76%

10%

44%

48%

41%

29%

43%

66%

Too secretive

45%

69%

16%

75%

54%

44%

46%

50%

45%

40%

Just playing politics

45%

65%

20%

66%

56%

48%

41%

51%

45%

36%

Principled

43%

28%

69%

25%

29%

49%

36%

30%

45%

54%

Stubborn

42%

57%

24%

72%

44%

43%

41%

47%

39%

42%

Balanced

37%

20%

65%

13%

26%

42%

32%

23%

37%

54%

Unethical

33%

50%

10%

69%

37%

32%

35%

41%

32%

26%

Populist

31%

38%

23%

37%

37%

36%

25%

28%

33%

31%

Cruel

30%

46%

10%

64%

34%

29%

32%

39%

29%

23%

Too hard

29%

44%

10%

61%

32%

27%

31%

36%

28%

23%

Too soft

26%

22%

30%

12%

37%

29%

24%

19%

27%

34%

Respondents were more likely to describe the Government’s handling of the issue of asylum seekers as “responsible” and “fair” but also as “too secretive” and “just playing politics” (all 45%). 26% describe their handling of the issue as “too soft”, 29% as “too hard” and 30% as “cruel”.

Liberal/National voters were most likely to think the handling was “fair” (76%) and “responsible” (75%).

Labor voters were most likely to think the handling was “too secretive” (69%) and “just playing politics” (65%).

Greens voters were most likely to think the handling was “too secretive” (75%), “stubborn” (72%) and “unethical” (69%).

Of those aged under 35, only 23% thought the handling of the issue was “balanced” and 29% thought it was “fair”.

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