Q. Here is a list of things both favourable and unfavourable that have been said about various political parties. Which statements do you feel fit the Labor Party?
| Total | Change | Jul 2009 | April 2011 | Aug 2013 | Nov 2015 | Mar 2016 | ||
| Will promise to do anything to win votes | 64% | +2 | 57% | 72% | 65% | 64% | 62% | |
| Looks after the interests of working people | 56% | +6 | 39% | 53% | 55% | 50% | ||
| Moderate | 54% | +7 | 65% | 51% | 48% | 56% | 47% | |
| Divided | 49% | -5 | 30% | 66% | 66% | 58% | 54% | |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 49% | +6 | 62% | 40% | 50% | 48% | 43% | |
| Have a vision for the future | 48% | +8 | 43% | 49% | 42% | 40% | ||
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 46% | -7 | 44% | 61% | 51% | 52% | 53% | |
| Have good policies | 46% | +8 | 46% | 42% | 38% | |||
| Trust to manage a fair superannuation system | 45% | |||||||
| Clear about what they stand for | 43% | +8 | 28% | 38% | 37% | 35% | ||
| Has a good team of leaders | 39% | +9 | 60% | 34% | 36% | 33% | 30% | |
| Too close to the big corporate and financial interests | 35% | – | 46% | 31% | 37% | 35% | ||
| Trustworthy | 33% | +4 | 30% | 34% | 29% | |||
| Keeps its promises | 31% | +3 | 44% | 20% | 27% | 29% | 28% | |
| Extreme | 30% | -5 | 25% | 38% | 34% | 30% | 35% |
The Labor Party’s main attributes were – will promise anything to win votes (64%), looks after the interests of working people (56%) and moderate (54%).
Since this question was asked in March, the main changes have been for has a good team of leaders (up 9%), have a vision for the future (up 8%), have good policies (up 8%) and clear about what they stand for (up 8%).
Q. And which statements do you feel fit the Liberal Party?
| Total | Change | Jul 2009 | April 2011 | Aug 2013 | Nov 2015 | Mar 2016 | ||
| Too close to the big corporate and financial interests | 66% | +4 | 60% | 60% | 67% | 62% | ||
| Will promise to do anything to win votes | 65% | +2 | 67% | 65% | 65% | 68% | 63% | |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 63% | +5 | 62% | 54% | 58% | 62% | 58% | |
| Divided | 52% | -9 | 74% | 49% | 31% | 56% | 61% | |
| Have a vision for the future | 51% | +5 | 48% | 51% | 54% | 46% | ||
| Moderate | 47% | – | 50% | 55% | 48% | 51% | 47% | |
| Clear about what they stand for | 46% | +7 | 44% | 45% | 46% | 39% | ||
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 44% | +3 | 44% | 51% | 48% | 46% | 41% | |
| Has a good team of leaders | 42% | +1 | 29% | 40% | 36% | 48% | 41% | |
| Have good policies | 41% | +2 | 38% | 43% | 39% | |||
| Trust to manage a fair superannuation system | 39% | |||||||
| Extreme | 38% | +2 | 36% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | |
| Looks after the interests of working people | 31% | – | 38% | 36% | 32% | 31% | ||
| Trustworthy | 30% | +2 | 30% | 29% | 28% | |||
| Keeps its promises | 30% | +3 | 28% | 33% | 32% | 25% | 27% |
The Liberal Party’s main attributes were – too close to the big corporate and financial interest (66%), will promise anything to win votes (65%) and out of touch with ordinary people (63%).
Main changes since March were – divided (down 9%) and clear about what they stand for (up 7%).
| Liberal | Labor | Difference | ||
| Too close to the big corporate and financial interests | 66% | 35% | +31 | |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 63% | 46% | +17 | |
| Extreme | 38% | 30% | +8 | |
| Has a good team of leaders | 42% | 39% | +3 | |
| Divided | 52% | 49% | +3 | |
| Have a vision for the future | 51% | 48% | +3 | |
| Clear about what they stand for | 46% | 43% | +3 | |
| Will promise to do anything to win votes | 65% | 64% | +1 | |
| Keeps its promises | 30% | 31% | -1 | |
| Trustworthy | 30% | 33% | -3 | |
| Have good policies | 41% | 46% | -5 | |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 44% | 49% | -5 | |
| Trust to manage a fair superannuation system | 39% | 45% | -6 | |
| Moderate | 47% | 54% | -7 | |
| Looks after the interests of working people | 31% | 56% | -25 |
The Labor Party is viewed more favourably in terms of looking after the interest of working people (-25) and not being too close to the big corporate and financial interests (+31) or out of touch with ordinary people (+17).
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the changes to superannuation made in the Budget, which includes capping tax concessions for those with more than $1.6 million in superannuation?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Super no payments | Super
pre-tax payments |
Super after tax payments | No super | |||
| Total approve | 47% | 48% | 57% | 50% | 40% | 46% | 51% | 60% | 53% | ||
| Total disapprove | 22% | 24% | 20% | 22% | 28% | 23% | 28% | 28% | 14% | ||
| Strongly approve | 13% | 15% | 14% | 24% | 10% | 14% | 17% | 14% | 14% | ||
| Approve | 34% | 33% | 43% | 26% | 30% | 32% | 34% | 46% | 39% | ||
| Disapprove | 15% | 16% | 16% | 12% | 17% | 17% | 15% | 19% | 9% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 7% | 8% | 4% | 10% | 11% | 6% | 13% | 95 | 5% | ||
| Don’t know | 31% | 29% | 22% | 29% | 32% | 31% | 21% | 13% | 33% |
47% approve of the changes to superannuation made in the Federal Budget and 22% disapprove.
Those most likely to approve were Liberal/National voters (57%), full-time workers (53%), those earning $1,500-2,000 pw (57%) and those making after-tax super contributions (60%).
Q. Thinking about the Federal election to be held on July 2, do you intend to vote at a polling booth on election day or will you be casting your vote before election day?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aged 18-34 | Aged 35-54 | Aged 55+ | |||
| Vote on election day | 64% | 70% | 63% | 69% | 71% | 63% | 65% | 65% | ||
| Vote before election day | 23% | 22% | 28% | 17% | 23% | 19% | 23% | 27% | ||
| Not sure | 13% | 8% | 9% | 14% | 6% | 18% | 12% | 8% |
64% say they will be voting at a polling booth on election day, 23% intend to cast their vote before the election and 13% are not sure. There were few differences across demographic groups.
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
31/5/16 |
2 weeks ago
24/5/16 |
4 weeks ago
10/5/16 |
Election 7 Sep 13 | |||
| Liberal | 37% | 38% | 38% | 38% | |||
| National | 4% | 3% | 3% | 4% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 41% | 41% | 41% | 42% | 45.6% | ||
| Labor | 36% | 35% | 37% | 38% | 33.4% | ||
| Greens | 10% | 9% | 9% | 10% | 8.6% | ||
| Nick Xenophon Team | 4% | 4% | 3% | na | – | ||
| Other/Independent | 10% | 10% | 9% | 10% | 12.4% | ||
| 2 party preferred | |||||||
| Liberal National | 50% | 51% | 49% | 49% | 53.5% | ||
| Labor | 50% | 49% | 51% | 51% | 46.5% |
NB: Sample = 1,772. 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 2013 election.
Q. Thinking about the Federal election campaign so far, how much interest have you been taking in news about the campaign and what the parties have been saying?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Men | Women | Aged 18-34 | Aged 35-54 | Aged 55+ | |||
| A lot of interest | 14% | 18% | 13% | 14% | 17% | 18% | 10% | 11% | 11% | 21% | ||
| Some interest | 39% | 41% | 44% | 46% | 33% | 40% | 37% | 34% | 41% | 40% | ||
| Very little interest | 27% | 24% | 29% | 23% | 28% | 26% | 27% | 28% | 28% | 23% | ||
| No interest at all | 18% | 15% | 13% | 17% | 20% | 13% | 23% | 22% | 18% | 15% | ||
| Not sure | 3% | 1% | 1% | – | 1% | 2% | 3% | 5% | 2% | 1% |
14% say they have taken a lot of interest in news about the election campaign and what the parties have been saying, and 39% have taken some interest. 45% have taken very little or no interest.
45% of those aged 18-34 have a lot or some interest compared to 61% of those aged 55+.
Q. Over the last few weeks which of the following types of contact have you had with the election campaign?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Seen TV campaign ads | 58% | 57% | 65% | 49% | 61% | |
| Received campaign materials in your letterbox | 49% | 48% | 50% | 54% | 63% | |
| Watched one of the party leader debates on TV | 22% | 26% | 22% | 27% | 24% | |
| Received an email about the election | 17% | 19% | 19% | 28% | 12% | |
| Visited a website about election issues | 13% | 16% | 12% | 20% | 13% | |
| Been surveyed on the phone | 12% | 14% | 14% | 7% | 16% | |
| Had a phone call from a political party | 11% | 13% | 11% | 12% | 11% | |
| Been approached in the street by party workers handing out material | 9% | 10% | 12% | 8% | 6% | |
| Been door-knocked by a political party | 5% | 6% | 7% | 2% | 4% | |
| Been door-knocked by another group (e.g. union, interest group) | 4% | 6% | 4% | 3% | 3% |
58% say they have seen TV ads about the election campaign and 49% have received campaign materials in their letterbox. 22% say they have watched a leaders debate.
Only 5% say they have been door-knocked by a political party and 9% have been approached by party workers in the street.