Awareness of Climate Strikes
Q. On Friday 20th September, Student-led strikes are planned to take place across Australia and internationally, to push for governments to act on climate change and move towards renewable energy.
People of all ages will refuse to attend school and/or work to participate in these peaceful protests.
Before today, were you aware these protests were happening?
| Total | Gender | Age | ||||
| Male | Female | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | ||
| Yes | 35% | 41% | 30% | 35% | 29% | 42% |
| No | 54% | 49% | 58% | 52% | 58% | 51% |
| Unsure | 11% | 10% | 12% | 13% | 14% | 7% |
| Base | 1,093 | 545 | 548 | 348 | 360 | 385 |
| Total | Federal Voting Intention | ||||
| Labor | Coalition | Greens | Independent / Other | ||
| Yes | 35% | 38% | 36% | 45% | 39% |
| No | 54% | 55% | 55% | 44% | 50% |
| Unsure | 11% | 8% | 9% | 11% | 11% |
| Base | 1,093 | 327 | 392 | 98 | 161 |
- More than half (54%) of participants were not aware that Climate Strikes would be occurring on 20th
- Participants over 55 years old are more likely to be aware of the Climate Strikes (42%), as are university educated participants (42%).
Intended Involvement with the Climate Strikes
Q. Which of the following best describes your intended involvement with the protests?
| Total | Gender | Age | ||||
| Male | Female | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | ||
| Aware of protests & intend to participate in the protest | 6% | 7% | 4% | 9% | 6% | 2% |
| Aware of protests & intend to support the protest in some other way (e.g. donating, posting on social media) | 11% | 13% | 9% | 19% | 8% | 6% |
| Aware of protests & have children or other family members who intend to participate in the protest | 4% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 5% | 3% |
| Aware of protests & will not be involved | 18% | 21% | 16% | 7% | 15% | 31% |
| Unaware of protests / Unaware | 65% | 59% | 70% | 65% | 71% | 58% |
| Base | 1,093 | 545 | 548 | 348 | 360 | 385 |
| Total | Federal Voting Intention | ||||
| Labor | Coalition | Greens | Independent / Other | ||
| Aware of protests & intend to participate in the protest | 6% | 7% | 3% | 18% | 6% |
| Aware of protests & intend to support the protest in some other way (e.g. donating, posting on social media) | 11% | 14% | 7% | 20% | 14% |
| Aware of protests & have children or other family members who intend to participate in the protest | 4% | 5% | 2% | 8% | 7% |
| Aware of protests & will not be involved | 18% | 15% | 26% | 8% | 20% |
| Unaware of protests / Unaware | 65% | 62% | 64% | 55% | 16% |
| Base | 1,093 | 327 | 392 | 98 | 161 |
- 5% of participants surveyed will be participating in the Climate Strikes on 20th September, another 11% will be supporting the strikes in some other way.
- 18-34 year olds were more likely to participate in the protest (9%) or support it in some other way (19%).
- Greens voters are most likely to protest themselves (18%) or support the protesters in some other way (20%) as are high income earners (11% and 18% respectively).
- Those with a university education or in paid employment are also most likely to attend the protest (12% and 8% respectively), support the protesters (17% and 16%) or have family members/children who intend to participate (7% and 6%).
- 31% of participants over 55s and 26% of Coalition voters do not intend to support the Climate Strikes in any way.
Support for Climate Strikes
Q. Regardless of your intentions to participate, to what extent do you support or oppose these strikes to push for governments to act on climate change and move towards renewable energy?
| Total | Gender | Age | ||||
| Male | Female | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | ||
| Strongly support | 26% | 29% | 22% | 37% | 22% | 19% |
| Somewhat support | 30% | 27% | 33% | 37% | 31% | 24% |
| Somewhat oppose | 15% | 16% | 15% | 9% | 17% | 18% |
| Strongly oppose | 15% | 19% | 11% | 3% | 11% | 29% |
| Unsure | 14% | 10% | 18% | 14% | 19% | 10% |
| NET: Support | 55% | 56% | 55% | 74% | 53% | 43% |
| NET: Oppose | 30% | 34% | 26% | 13% | 28% | 47% |
| Base | 1,093 | 545 | 548 | 348 | 360 | 385 |
| Total | Federal Voting Intention | ||||
| Labor | Coalition | Greens | Independent / Other | ||
| Strongly support | 26% | 36% | 11% | 62% | 26% |
| Somewhat support | 30% | 32% | 31% | 29% | 26% |
| Somewhat oppose | 15% | 10% | 23% | 2% | 17% |
| Strongly oppose | 15% | 7% | 25% | 1% | 21% |
| Unsure | 14% | 15% | 10% | 6% | 9% |
| NET: Support | 55% | 68% | 41% | 91% | 52% |
| NET: Oppose | 30% | 17% | 49% | 3% | 38% |
| Base | 1,093 | 327 | 392 | 98 | 161 |
- 55% of participants support using strike action to push for governments to act on climate change and move towards renewable energy.
- Greens voters (91%), 18-34 year olds (74%), Labor voters (68%), with a university education (67%) and those in paid employment (69%) were more likely to agree with this statement.
- Almost half (48%) of those with a secondary school education disagreed with this statement, along with 43% of participants over 55 years of and 41% of Coalition voters.
Climate Change
Q. Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time?
| Total | Male | Female | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aged 18-34 | Aged 35-54 | Aged 55+ | Oct 2018 | Sep 2017 | Aug 2016 | |
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 62% | 58% | 65% | 75% | 53% | 84% | 48% | 72% | 63% | 52% | 63% | 64% | 57% |
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 27% | 29% | 24% | 16% | 38% | 7% | 41% | 16% | 24% | 39% | 25% | 24% | 26% |
| Don’t know | 12% | 12% | 11% | 10% | 9% | 9% | 12% | 12% | 13% | 9% | 13% | 12% | 17% |
62% (down 1% since October last year) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 27% (up 2%pts from 25%) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 72%/16% and those aged 55+ split 52%/39%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 71%/22%.
Addressing Climate Change
Q. As far as you know, do you think Australia is doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?
| Total | Male | Female | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aged 18-34 | Aged 35-54 | Aged 55+ | Dec 2018 | Oct 2018 | Sep 2017 | |
| Not doing enough | 51% | 43% | 58% | 64% | 34% | 79% | 46% | 58% | 48% | 48% | 53% | 56% | 56% |
| Doing enough | 27% | 31% | 23% | 18% | 43% | 10% | 28% | 26% | 26% | 29% | 24% | 23% | 20% |
| Doing too much | 11% | 16% | 6% | 8% | 15% | 2% | 16% | 8% | 9% | 15% | 9% | 7% | 8% |
| Don’t know | 12% | 10% | 13% | 10% | 9% | 8% | 10% | 8% | 18% | 9% | 14% | 13% | 16% |
Just over half (51%) think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change. This has not statistically changed from December 2018.
Those people most likely to think Australia was not doing enough include women (58%), Greens voters (79%) and Labor voters (64%).
Doing enough to address climate change
Q. As far as you know, do you think Australia is doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aug 2015 | Mar 2016 | Aug 2016 | Dec 2016 | Sep 2017 | Oct 2018 | |||
| Doing enough | 24% | 23% | 32% | 10% | 24% | 24% | 21% | 22% | 22% | 20% | 23% | ||
| Not doing enough | 53% | 63% | 42% | 82% | 53% | 53% | 57% | 52% | 49% | 56% | 56% | ||
| Doing too much | 9% | 3% | 14% | 1% | 9% | 7% | 8% | 8% | 11% | 8% | 7% | ||
| Don’t know | 14% | 11% | 12% | 7% | 14% | 16% | 13% | 18% | 18% | 16% | 13% |
Just over half (53%) think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change. This has not statistically changed from October 2018.
Those people most likely to think Australia was not doing enough include women (58%), Greens voters (82%) and Labor voters (63%).
Climate change
Q. Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Nov 2009 | Dec 2010 | Jun 2011 | Oct 2012 | Oct 2013 | Dec 2014 | Nov 2015 | Aug 2016 | Sep 2017 | |||
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 63% | 73% | 57% | 78% | 47% | 53% | 45% | 50% | 48% | 52% | 57% | 56% | 57% | 64% | ||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 25% | 15% | 34% | 12% | 45% | 34% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 29% | 32% | 26% | 24% | ||
| Don’t know | 13% | 12% | 9% | 10% | 8% | 13% | 19% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 12% | 17% | 12% |
63% (down 1% since September last year) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 25% (up 1%) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 66%/19% and those aged 55+ split 56%/37%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 70%/20%.
Doing enough to address climate change
Q. As far as you know, do you think Australia is doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aug 2015 | Mar 2016 | Aug 2016 | Dec 2016 | Sep 2017 | |||
| Doing enough | 23% | 16% | 36% | 5% | 24% | 24% | 21% | 22% | 22% | 20% | ||
| Not doing enough | 56% | 69% | 45% | 88% | 45% | 53% | 57% | 52% | 49% | 56% | ||
| Doing too much | 7% | 3% | 9% | 2% | 21% | 7% | 8% | 8% | 11% | 8% | ||
| Don’t know | 13% | 12% | 10% | 5% | 9% | 16% | 13% | 18% | 18% | 16% |
56% (no change since September last year) think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change and 23% (up 3%) think Australia is doing enough.
Those most likely to think Australia is not doing enough were aged 18-44 (61%) and university educated (65%).
Liberal National voters were split but were more likely to think the Government was not doing enough (45%).
