Q. Do you consider yourself –
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Income under $1,000pw | Income $1,000 – $1,500pw | Income $1,500 – $2,000pw | Income $2,000+ | Aug 2014 | May 2016 | ||||
| Working class | 31% | 34% | 24% | 32% | 40% | 40% | 41% | 32% | 19% | 31% | 34% | |||
| Middle class | 51% | 51% | 60% | 52% | 34% | 35% | 48% | 57% | 68% | 49% | 48% | |||
| Upper class | 3% | 1% | 5% | 5% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 5% | 2% | 2% | |||
| None of them | 9% | 10% | 7% | 8% | 12% | 18% | 6% | 3% | 4% | 13% | 10% | |||
| Don’t know | 6% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 2% | 5% | 4% | 6% | 3% | 6% | 5% |
51% of respondents described themselves as “middle class” and 31% as “working class” – only 3% claimed to be “upper class”.
Those on higher incomes were more likely to identify as “middle class” while those on lower incomes were more likely to identify as “working class”.
The results are not substantially different from those when this question was asked in 2014 and earlier in 2016.
Q. Whose interests do you think the Labor Party mainly represent?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Working class | Middle class | Apr
2013 |
Aug 2014 | May 2016 | ||||
| Working class | 41% | 52% | 46% | 33% | 28% | 43% | 43% | 30% | 41% | 39% | |||
| Middle class | 16% | 23% | 11% | 29% | 12% | 11% | 21% | 16% | 14% | 17% | |||
| Upper class | 7% | 2% | 8% | 9% | 16% | 13% | 4% | 13% | 8% | 10% | |||
| All of them | 6% | 10% | 4% | 11% | 3% | 4% | 7% | 8% | 8% | 8% | |||
| None of them | 17% | 4% | 23% | 6% | 33% | 16% | 17% | 22% | 16% | 13% | |||
| Don’t know | 13% | 9% | 8% | 12% | 9% | 13% | 8% | 11% | 13% | 13% |
41% believe that the Labor Party mainly represents working class people and 16% think they represent the middle class. 52% of Labor voters think the Labor Party mainly represents the working class and 29% of Greens voters think they mainly represent the middle class. 23% of Liberal/National voters don’t think they represent any class.
43% of respondents who describe themselves as working class and 43% of those who say they are middle class think the Labor Party mainly represents the working class.
The results are not substantially different from those when this question was asked in 2014 and earlier in 2016.
Q. Whose interests do you think the Liberal Party mainly represent?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Working class | Middle class | Apr
2013 |
Aug 2014 | May 2016 | ||||
| Working class | 3% | 4% | 4% | 3% | 2% | 4% | 2% | 5% | 4% | 4% | |||
| Middle class | 17% | 7% | 32% | 8% | 8% | 13% | 20% | 20% | 17% | 15% | |||
| Upper class | 52% | 77% | 29% | 73% | 60% | 55% | 54% | 40% | 47% | 53% | |||
| All of them | 10% | 2% | 21% | 1% | 9% | 7% | 11% | 17% | 14% | 12% | |||
| None of them | 8% | 4% | 7% | 4% | 16% | 10% | 6% | 8% | 8% | 4% | |||
| Don’t know | 11% | 5% | 7% | 12% | 6% | 12% | 6% | 9% | 11% | 11% |
52% believe that the Liberal Party mainly represents upper class people and 17% think they represent the middle class. 77% of Labor voters and 73% of Greens voters think the Liberal Party mainly represent the upper class. 32% of Liberal/National voters think they represent the middle class and 29% think they represent the upper class.
55% of respondents who describe themselves as working class and 54% of those who say they are middle class think the Liberal Party mainly represents the upper class.
The results are not substantially different from those when this question was asked earlier in 2016.
Q. Whose interests do you think the Greens mainly represent?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Working class | Middle class | |||
| Working class | 8% | 11% | 9% | 10% | 4% | 11% | 8% | ||
| Middle class | 15% | 23% | 8% | 33% | 8% | 13% | 17% | ||
| Upper class | 6% | 5% | 5% | 6% | 13% | 9% | 5% | ||
| All of them | 15% | 19% | 11% | 42% | 9% | 12% | 16% | ||
| None of them | 33% | 21% | 45% | 2% | 49% | 28% | 37% | ||
| Don’t know | 24% | 21% | 23% | 6% | 18% | 27% | 17% |
33% don’t think that the Greens represent any particular class of people and 24% don’t know. Among Greens voters, 42% think they represent all classes and 33% think they represent the middle class.
Q. Whose interests do you think Pauline Hanson’s One Nation mainly represent?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote One Nation | Working class | Middle class | |||
| Working class | 31% | 30% | 34% | 28% | 38% | 36% | 33% | ||
| Middle class | 7% | 6% | 9% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 10% | ||
| Upper class | 3% | 4% | 3% | 11% | – | 4% | 3% | ||
| All of them | 11% | 9% | 6% | 2% | 49% | 12% | 10% | ||
| None of them | 27% | 31% | 30% | 34% | 1% | 19% | 30% | ||
| Don’t know | 21% | 21% | 17% | 18% | 6% | 24% | 14% |
31% think that One Nation represents the working class and 27% think they represent none of them.
Among One Nation voters, 49% think they represent all classes and 38% think they represent the working class.
| Labor | Lib/Nat | Greens | One Nation | |
| Working class | 41% | 3% | 8% | 31% |
| Middle class | 16% | 17% | 15% | 7% |
| Upper class | 7% | 52% | 6% | 3% |
| All of them | 6% | 10% | 15% | 11% |
| None of them | 17% | 8% | 33% | 27% |
| Don’t know | 13% | 11% | 24% | 21% |
| Labor by Labor voters | Lib/Nat by Lib/Nat voters | Greens by Greens voters | One Nation by One Nation voters | |
| Working class | 52% | 4% | 10% | 38% |
| Middle class | 23% | 32% | 33% | 6% |
| Upper class | 2% | 29% | 6% | – |
| All of them | 10% | 21% | 42% | 49% |
| None of them | 4% | 7% | 2% | 1% |
| Don’t know | 9% | 7% | 6% | 6% |
Q. Which of the following issues are the 3 most important for the Federal Government to address over the next 12 months?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | Working class | Middle class | Aug 2016 | Change | ||||
| Improving our health system | 44% | 49% | 41% | 39% | 39% | 41% | 44% | 45% | -1 | |||
| Housing affordability | 31% | 36% | 22% | 36% | 33% | 35% | 27% | 31% | – | |||
| Reducing unemployment | 31% | 32% | 31% | 23% | 34% | 34% | 30% | 31% | – | |||
| National security and terrorism | 30% | 20% | 41% | 11% | 39% | 32% | 29% | 37% | -7 | |||
| Tax avoidance by big companies | 26% | 28% | 21% | 28% | 29% | 29% | 24% | 31% | -5 | |||
| Reducing the budget deficit | 24% | 16% | 36% | 7% | 27% | 23% | 28% | 30% | -6 | |||
| Protecting our borders | 21% | 12% | 27% | 7% | 33% | 18% | 23% | |||||
| Protecting workers wages and conditions | 20% | 30% | 14% | 16% | 15% | 22% | 18% | 18% | +2 | |||
| More funds for education | 17% | 17% | 16% | 22% | 13% | 16% | 18% | 20% | -3 | |||
| Addressing climate change | 16% | 28% | 7% | 48% | 9% | 18% | 15% | 18% | -2 | |||
| Protecting the environment | 16% | 19% | 10% | 49% | 10% | 12% | 18% | 14% | +2 | |||
| Investing in public transport | 12% | 12% | 14% | 8% | 9% | 9% | 12% | 14% | -2 | |||
| Investing in roads | 7% | 6% | 9% | 2% | 9% | 8% | 8% | 7% | – | |||
| Free trade agreements | 6% | 5% | 9% | 3% | 3% | 4% | 7% | 5% | +1 |
The most important issues for the Federal Government to address over the next 12 months were improving our health system (44%), housing affordability (31%). reducing unemployment (31%) and national security and terrorism (30%).
For Labor voters the most important issues were improving our health system (49%), housing affordability (36%), reducing unemployment (32%) and protecting workers wages and conditions (30%).
For Liberal/National voters the most important issues were improving our health system (41%), national security and terrorism (41%) and reducing the budget deficit (36%)
For Greens voters the most important issues were protecting the environment (49%), addressing climate change (48%) and improving our health system (39%).
Since this question was asked in August, there have been decreases for national security and terrorism (down 7%), reducing the budget deficit (down 6%) and tax avoidance by big companies (down 5%). Note that an additional issue has been included in this question, which has the effect of reducing the scores across the other items.
Q. Do you think life for the following groups of people has improved or got worse over the last few years?
| Improved | Stayed about the same | Got worse | Don’t know | |
| Total | ||||
| The upper class | 57% | 26% | 5% | 12% |
| The middle class | 12% | 41% | 36% | 11% |
| The working class | 8% | 24% | 58% | 11% |
| Working class | ||||
| The upper class | 72% | 14% | 3% | 11% |
| The middle class | 18% | 41% | 30% | 11% |
| The working class | 7% | 16% | 69% | 8% |
| Middle class | ||||
| The upper class | 51% | 34% | 6% | 8% |
| The middle class | 8% | 44% | 42% | 6% |
| The working class | 7% | 29% | 56% | 8% |
57% think that life for the upper class has improved over the last few years and 58% think life for the working class has got worse. They were split over changes in life for the middle class – 41% think it has stayed about the same and 36% think it has got worse.
Those who identify as working class were more likely to think life had improved for the upper class (72%) and got worse for the working class (69%).
Those who identify as middle class were only a little more likely to think life for the middle class had got worse (42%).