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Politicians and party membership

14 Apr 2015

Q. If a politician voluntarily leaves their party (for example, Jacquie Lambie and Glen Lazarus have both left the Palmer United Party) which of the following actions would you favour?

  Total   Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Vote Other
The should be allowed to remain in Parliament 24% 31% 16% 30% 35%
They should leave Parliament and a new election be held for their seat 41% 34% 52% 36% 40%
They should be replaced with a new member nominated by their former party 19% 23% 20% 14% 15%
Don’t know 16% 13% 12% 20% 10%

41% think that if a politician voluntarily leaves their party they should leave Parliament and a new election be held for their seat. 24% think they should be allowed to remain in Parliament and 19% think they should be replaced with a new member nominated by their former party.

52% of Liberal/National voters favour a new election and other party voters are more likely to think they should be allowed to remain in Parliament (35%).

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