Q. Which of the following statements best describes your financial situation?
| Total | Work full time | Work part time | Income less than $600 pw | Income $600-$1,000
pw |
Income $1,000-$1,500 pw | Income $1,500 – $2,000 pw | Income $2,000+ pw | Oct 2014 | Mar 2015 | Feb 2016 | |||
| I don’t have enough money for basic essentials like housing food and electricity | 8% | 6% | 9% | 21% | 7% | 8% | 6% | 4% | 7% | 8% | 6% | ||
| I have enough money for basic essentials but I cannot save any money | 40% | 35% | 31% | 53% | 46% | 41% | 34% | 28% | 35% | 39% | 35% | ||
| I have enough money for basic essentials and I can save a little money | 42% | 45% | 50% | 22% | 40% | 45% | 53% | 48% | 47% | 44% | 49% | ||
| I have enough money for basic essentials and I can save a lot of money | 7% | 11% | 7% | 1% | 2% | 4% | 5% | 19% | 8% | 7% | 8% | ||
| Don’t know | 3% | 3% | 4% | 3% | 5% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 4% | 2% | 3% |
42% say they have enough money for basic essentials and can save a little money and 40% say they have enough money for basic essentials but cannot save any money. Only 7% say they can save a lot of money.
Only 23% of those earning less than $600 pw say they can save any money – compared to 67% of those earning over $2,000 pw.
Overall, there has been a slight decline in financial situations since this question was asked in February last year – 48% (up 7%) say they cannot save any money and 49% (down 8%) say they can.
Q. Compared to two or three years ago is your household paying more or less for the following –
| Paying a lot more | Paying a little more | Paying about the same | Paying a little less | Paying a lot less | Don’t know | Feb 2013
Paying a lot more |
Mar 2014
Paying a lot more |
Feb 2016
Paying a lot more |
||
| Electricity and gas | 59% | 25% | 12% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 70% | 62% | 34% | |
| Insurance | 31% | 38% | 21% | 3% | 1% | 7% | 43% | 36% | 24% | |
| Medical, dental | 30% | 33% | 31% | 2% | 1% | 3% | 33% | 32% | 23% | |
| Fresh food – fruit, vegetables, meat | 29% | 40% | 26% | 2% | <1% | 2% | 36% | 36% | 25% | |
| Petrol | 27% | 32% | 26% | 6% | 2% | 6% | 50% | 56% | 19% | |
| Water | 26% | 39% | 26% | 2% | 1% | 7% | 47% | 40% | 13% | |
| Housing – mortgage or rent | 23% | 25% | 33% | 5% | 3% | 10% | 24% | 24% | 14% | |
| Packaged food | 21% | 38% | 34% | 3% | 1% | 4% | 28% | 26% | 15% | |
| Education | 18% | 20% | 28% | 3% | 4% | 27% | 24% | 21% | 16% | |
| Clothing | 14% | 30% | 44% | 8% | 2% | 3% | 21% | 17% | 13% |
Items which respondents said they were “paying a lot more” for were electricity and gas (59%), insurance (31%) and medical/dental (30%).
Since this question was asked in February last year, for all items, the perceptions of paying a lot more have increased substantially. However, these results are similar on most items to the surveys of 2013 and 2014.
Q. If a Federal Election was held today to which party will you probably give your first preference vote? If not sure, which party are you currently leaning toward? If don’t know – Well which party are you currently leaning to?
| Total | Last week 1/8/17 | 2 weeks ago 25/7/17 | 4 weeks ago 11/7/17 | Election 2 Jul 16 | |||
| Liberal | 34% | 36% | 35% | 33% | |||
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 37% | 38% | 38% | 36% | 42.0% | ||
| Labor | 39% | 36% | 37% | 36% | 34.7% | ||
| Greens | 9% | 10% | 10% | 11% | 10.2% | ||
| Nick Xenophon Team | 3% | 4% | 4% | 3% | |||
| Pauline Hanson’s One Nation | 8% | 8% | 7% | 7% | |||
| Other/Independent | 5% | 4% | 5% | 6% | 13.1% | ||
| 2 party preferred | |||||||
| Liberal National | 46% | 48% | 47% | 46% | 50.4% | ||
| Labor | 54% | 52% | 53% | 54% | 49.6% |
Sample = 1,805. The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived from the first preference/leaning to voting questions. Respondents who select ‘don’t know’ are not included in the results. The two-party preferred estimate is calculated by distributing the votes of the other parties according to their preferences at the 2016 election.
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Malcolm Turnbull is doing as Prime Minister?
| Total | July 2017 | June 2017 | May 2017 | Apr 2017 | Mar 2017 | Dec 2016 | June 2016 | Dec 2015 | |||
| Total Approve | 38% | 37% | 36% | 37% | 35% | 33% | 34% | 38% | 56% | ||
| Total Disapprove | 46% | 49% | 45% | 48% | 47% | 50% | 46% | 40% | 23% | ||
| Strongly approve | 4% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 6% | 13% | ||
| Approve | 34% | 31% | 31% | 32% | 30% | 28% | 29% | 32% | 43% | ||
| Disapprove | 27% | 30% | 28% | 29% | 29% | 30% | 30% | 24% | 16% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 19% | 19% | 17% | 19% | 18% | 20% | 16% | 16% | 7% | ||
| Don’t know | 16% | 15% | 19% | 15% | 17% | 18% | 20% | 21% | 21% |
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | |||
| Total Approve | 38% | 27% | 73% | 12% | 18% | ||
| Total Disapprove | 46% | 65% | 19% | 68% | 65% | ||
| Strongly approve | 4% | 4% | 9% | – | – | ||
| Approve | 34% | 23% | 64% | 12% | 18% | ||
| Disapprove | 27% | 37% | 15% | 43% | 33% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 19% | 28% | 4% | 25% | 32% | ||
| Don’t know | 16% | 9% | 9% | 20% | 17% |
38% approved of the job Malcolm Turnbull is doing as Prime Minister (up 1% from last month), and 46% disapproved (down 3% from last month) – a change in net approval rating from -12 to -8 (his best net rating since November last year).
73% (up 2%) of Liberal/National voters approved of the job Malcolm Turnbull is doing, compared to 27% of ALP voters and 12% of Greens voters.
By gender, men were 43% approve/49% disapprove and women 33% approve/42% disapprove.
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Bill Shorten is doing as Opposition Leader?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | |||
| Total Approve | 35% | 65% | 20% | 36% | 13% | ||
| Total Disapprove | 42% | 19% | 64% | 37% | 72% | ||
| Strongly approve | 6% | 15% | – | 6% | 1% | ||
| Approve | 29% | 50% | 20% | 30% | 12% | ||
| Disapprove | 24% | 13% | 37% | 29% | 29% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 18% | 6% | 27% | 8% | 43% | ||
| Don’t know | 22% | 16% | 16% | 27% | 15% |
| Total | July 2017 | June 2017 | May 2017 | Apr 2017 | Mar 2017 | Dec 2016 | Dec 2015 | Dec 2014 | |||
| Total Approve | 35% | 36% | 34% | 34% | 33% | 30% | 35% | 27% | 35% | ||
| Total Disapprove | 42% | 44% | 43% | 45% | 46% | 49% | 38% | 47% | 39% | ||
| Strongly approve | 6% | 6% | 5% | 6% | 5% | 4% | 6% | 4% | 7% | ||
| Approve | 29% | 30% | 29% | 28% | 28% | 26% | 29% | 23% | 28% | ||
| Disapprove | 24% | 24% | 28% | 26% | 26% | 26% | 21% | 26% | 23% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 18% | 20% | 15% | 19% | 20% | 23% | 17% | 21% | 16% | ||
| Don’t know | 22% | 20% | 23% | 22% | 22% | 22% | 25% | 25% | 26% |
35% approved of the job Bill Shorten is doing as Opposition Leader (down 1% from last month), and 42% disapproved (down 2%) – a change in net approval rating from -8 to -7.
65% (down 1%) of ALP voters approved of the job Bill Shorten is doing, compared to 36% of Greens voters and 20% of Liberal/National voters.
By gender, men were 39% approve/48% disapprove and women 32% approve/38% disapprove.
Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | |||
| Malcolm Turnbull | 41% | 20% | 80% | 11% | 37% | ||
| Bill Shorten | 27% | 56% | 5% | 41% | 13% | ||
| Don’t know | 32% | 24% | 15% | 48% | 50% |
| Total | July 2017 | June 2017 | May 2017 | Apr 2017 | Mar 2017 | Dec 2016 | Jun 2016 | Dec 2015 | |||
| Malcolm Turnbull | 41% | 41% | 39% | 39% | 39% | 38% | 39% | 40% | 54% | ||
| Bill Shorten | 27% | 27% | 26% | 31% | 28% | 26% | 28% | 29% | 15% | ||
| Don’t know | 32% | 31% | 34% | 30% | 32% | 36% | 33% | 32% | 31% |
41% thought that Malcolm Turnbull would make a better Prime Minister (no change from last month), and 27% thought Bill Shorten would be better (no change). 32% did not know who would make a better Prime Minister.
The results were split by party, with 80% of Liberal/National voters saying that Malcolm Turnbull would be a better Prime Minister, and 56% of Labor voters saying Bill Shorten would.
Greens voters preferred Bill Shorten (41%) to Turnbull (11%), although the largest proportion did not know who would make a better Prime Minister (48%).
47% of men prefer Malcolm Turnbull and 30% prefer Bill Shorten.
36% of women prefer Malcolm Turnbull and 24% prefer Bill Shorten.
Q. As far as you are aware, has the Turnbull Coalition Government increased funding to schools, decreased school funding or not changed school funding much at all?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Increased school funding | 28% | 21% | 42% | 12% | 30% | |
| Decreased school funding | 22% | 32% | 15% | 30% | 19% | |
| Not changed school funding much | 22% | 25% | 20% | 25% | 27% | |
| Don’t know | 28% | 22% | 23% | 34% | 24% |
Views about whether the Federal Government had increased or decreased school funding were mixed. 28% thought they had increased funding, 22% thought they had decreased funding and 22% thought they had not changed the funding. Responses were partly related to voting intention – 42% of Liberal/National voters thought funding had increased while 32% of Labor voters thought it had decreased.
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the Labor Party’s proposal to tax the distributions of family trusts at 30%, the same level of tax paid by companies?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Total approve | 41% | 58% | 37% | 37% | 34% | |
| Total disapprove | 30% | 19% | 41% | 18% | 44% | |
| Strongly approve | 15% | 24% | 10% | 19% | 12% | |
| Approve | 26% | 34% | 27% | 18% | 22% | |
| Disapprove | 19% | 14% | 25% | 12% | 26% | |
| Strongly disapprove | 11% | 5% | 16% | 6% | 18% | |
| Don’t know | 29% | 23% | 22% | 45% | 21% |
41% approved of the Labor Party’s proposal to tax the distributions of family trusts at 30% and 30% disapproved. 29% did not have an opinion. A majority (58%) of Labor voters approved but Liberal/National voters were split (37% approve/41% disapprove).
Of those on higher incomes ($104,000+) 47% approved and 30% disapproved.