Q. Over the last few weeks, from what you have read or heard about the election campaign, has your opinion of the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull become more favourable or less favourable?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Become more favourable | 7% | 6% | 12% | 3% | 2% | |
| Become less favourable | 33% | 51% | 19% | 39% | 43% | |
| Hasn’t changed | 54% | 39% | 65% | 54% | 54% | |
| Don’t know | 6% | 3% | 3% | 4% | 1% |
33% say they have become less favourable toward Malcolm Turnbull over the last few weeks and 7% say they have become more favourable.
While most (65%) Liberal voters say they have not changed their opinion, 19% say they have become less favourable.
Q. Over the last few weeks, from what you have read or heard about the election campaign, has your opinion of the opposition leader Bill Shorten become more favourable or less favourable?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Become more favourable | 20% | 42% | 7% | 24% | 13% | |
| Become less favourable | 21% | 6% | 39% | 11% | 29% | |
| Hasn’t changed | 53% | 48% | 52% | 59% | 57% | |
| Don’t know | 6% | 5% | 3% | 6% | 2% |
20% say they have become more favourable toward Bill Shorten over the last few weeks and 21% say they have become less favourable.
42% of Labor voters have become more favourable and 6% less favourable.
Q. Which party would you trust most to handle the following issues?
| Liberal | Labor | Don’t know | NET | NET
May 2016 |
||
| Security and the war on terrorism | 39% | 21% | 40% | +18 | +23 | |
| Management of the economy | 39% | 27% | 34% | +12 | +20 | |
| Controlling interest rates | 35% | 23% | 42% | +12 | +12 | |
| Political leadership | 34% | 26% | 40% | +8 | +11 | |
| Managing population growth | 31% | 23% | 46% | +8 | +11 | |
| Treatment of asylum seekers | 32% | 28% | 40% | +4 | +8 | |
| Ensuring a quality water supply | 27% | 28% | 46% | -1 | – | |
| Ensuring a fair taxation system | 30% | 35% | 35% | -5 | -8 | |
| Housing affordability | 27% | 35% | 39% | -8 | -10 | |
| Addressing climate change | 25% | 35% | 40% | -10 | -11 | |
| A fair industrial relations system | 28% | 39% | 33% | -11 | -12 | |
| Protecting Australian jobs and protection of local industries | 27% | 39% | 34% | -12 | -13 | |
| Protecting the environment | 23% | 35% | 41% | -12 | -12 | |
| Ensuring the quality of Australia’s health system | 26% | 39% | 35% | -13 | -11 | |
| Ensuring a quality education for all children | 26% | 40% | 34% | -14 | -11 |
The Liberal Party is trusted more to handle security and the war on terrorism (+18), management of the economy (+12) and controlling interest rates (+12).
The labor Party is trusted more to handle ensuring a quality education (+14%) and ensuring the quality of the health system (+13).
Since this question was asked last month, Labor has improved its position on management of the economy (up 8) and security and the war on terrorism (up 5).
Q. Which party – Labor or Liberal – do you think is best when it comes to:
| Liberal | Labor | No difference | Don’t know | NET | ||
| Representing the interests of the large corporate and financial interests | 53% | 12% | 22% | 13% | +41 | |
| Handling the economy overall | 36% | 22% | 25% | 17% | +14 | |
| Handling the economy in a way that best helps small business | 35% | 25% | 23% | 17% | +10 | |
| Handling the economy in a way that best helps the middle class | 30% | 28% | 25% | 17% | +2 | |
| Handling the economy in a way that helps you and people like you the most. | 28% | 31% | 25% | 17% | -3 | |
| Handling the economy in a way that tries to take the interests of working families into consideration as much as it takes the interests of the large corporate and financial groups | 26% | 32% | 26% | 16% | -6 | |
| Representing the interests of you and people like you | 26% | 34% | 27% | 12% | -8 | |
| Standing up for the middle class in Australia | 25% | 35% | 26% | 14% | -10 | |
| Being more concerned about the interests of working families in Australia than the rich and large business and financial interests | 19% | 43% | 24% | 14% | -24 | |
| Representing the interests of Australian working families | 18% | 45% | 27% | 11% | -27 |
Labor are considered best at representing the interests of Australian working families (+27), being more concerned about the interests of working families (+24) and standing up for the middle class in Australia (+10).
The Liberal Party are considered best at representing the interests of the large corporate and financial interests (+41), handling the economy overall (+14) and handling the economy in a way that best helps small business (+10).
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 | Mar 2016 | |||
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 59% | 69% | 45% | 91% | 57% | 53% | 45% | 50% | 48% | 52% | 57% | 56% | 63% | ||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 28% | 18% | 42% | 6% | 35% | 34% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 29% | 32% | 27% | ||
| Don’t know | 13% | 13% | 12% | 3% | 9% | 13% | 19% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 12% | 10% |
59% (down 4% since March) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 28% (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 65%/19% and those aged 55+ split 48%/40%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 64%/23%.
Q. Which of the following actions on climate change would you most support?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Sep 2014 | Jul 2015 | Sep 2015 | |||
| Incentives for renewable energy | 49% | 50% | 48% | 58% | 54% | 50% | 45% | 45% | ||
| An emissions trading scheme | 13% | 15% | 11% | 24% | 9% | 12% | 14% | 11% | ||
| The Government’s direct action policy | 10% | 10% | 12% | 11% | 9% | 10% | 10% | 10% | ||
| No action required | 12% | 7% | 15% | – | 19% | 11% | 11% | 12% | ||
| Don’t know | 17% | 17% | 13% | 7% | 9% | 17% | 20% | 22% |
In taking action on climate change, 49% most support incentives for renewable energy, 13% most support an emissions trading scheme and 10% most support the Government‘s direct action policy – while 12% say no action is required. This represents little change since this question was asked in September.
All groups are most likely to support incentives for renewable energy.
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the $50 billion in tax cuts for medium and large businesses announced in the Federal budget?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Total approve | 28% | 17% | 49% | 12% | 20% | |
| Total disapprove | 45% | 63% | 23% | 61% | 63% | |
| Strongly approve | 6% | 3% | 10% | 4% | 5% | |
| Approve | 22% | 14% | 39% | 8% | 15% | |
| Disapprove | 23% | 29% | 17% | 26% | 27% | |
| Strongly disapprove | 22% | 34% | 6% | 35% | 36% | |
| Don’t know | 27% | 19% | 27% | 27% | 18% |
28% approve of tax cuts to medium and large business and 45% disapprove.
Of those earning more than $2,000 pw, 37% approve and 37% disapprove
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
24/5/16 |
2 weeks ago
17/5/16 |
4 weeks ago
3/5/16 |
Election 7 Sep 13 | |||
| Liberal | 38% | 38% | 39% | 37% | |||
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 41% | 41% | 42% | 40% | 45.6% | ||
| Labor | 35% | 37% | 38% | 38% | 33.4% | ||
| Greens | 9% | 9% | 9% | 10% | 8.6% | ||
| Nick Xenophon Team | 4% | 3% | 3% | na | – | ||
| Other/Independent | 10% | 9% | 8% | 10% | 12.4% | ||
| 2 party preferred | |||||||
| Liberal National | 51% | 49% | 49% | 48% | 53.5% | ||
| Labor | 49% | 51% | 51% | 52% | 46.5% |
NB: Sample = 1,767. 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.