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Awareness of the proportion of the Federal Budget spent on foreign aid

1 Dec 2020

Q. As far as you know, about how much of the Federal Budget is spent on foreign aid?

  Nov’20 Jun’17 Jun’15 Jul’11
 
Less than 1% 6% 10% 13% 7%
About 1% 8% 9% 11% 8%
About 2% 13% 15% 14% 17%
About 5% 16% 10% 10% 11%
More than 5% 17% 12% 9% 16%
Don’t know 39% 44% 43% 41%

 

  Total Gender Age Group Federal Voting Intention
  Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+ Labor TOTAL: Coalition Greens TOTAL: Other
Less than 1% 6% 9% 4% 5% 6% 7% 7% 5% 11% 7%
About 1% 8% 11% 4% 11% 7% 6% 7% 8% 17% 6%
About 2% 13% 17% 10% 17% 11% 13% 15% 16% 13% 11%
About 5% 16% 19% 13% 23% 15% 12% 15% 18% 14% 21%
More than 5% 17% 15% 19% 13% 23% 15% 15% 18% 9% 29%
Don’t know 39% 29% 49% 31% 38% 47% 41% 35% 36% 25%
Base (n) 1,034 528 506 329 320 385 322 430 88 107
  • Only 6% of Australians correctly know that less than 1% of the Federal Budget is spent on foreign aid. Fewer people know the correct proportion than in previous years (10% in 2017 and 13% in 2015)
  • 17% think over 5% is spent. This is higher than previous years when this question was asked (12% in 2017 and 9% in 2015).
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