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 | ||||
| Working class | 34% | 42% | 28% | 26% | 40% | 46% | 40% | 31% | 21% | 31% | |||
| Middle class | 48% | 44% | 62% | 48% | 39% | 31% | 45% | 60% | 67% | 49% | |||
| Upper class | 2% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 2% | <1% | 1% | 2% | 4% | 2% | |||
| None of them | 10% | 9% | 6% | 20% | 17% | 19% | 8% | 4% | 6% | 13% | |||
| Don’t know | 5% | 3% | 3% | 4% | 3% | 4% | 6% | 3% | 3% | 6% |
48% of respondents described themselves as “middle class” and 34% as “working class” – only 2% 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.
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 | ||||
| Working class | 39% | 47% | 42% | 27% | 32% | 40% | 44% | 30% | 41% | |||
| Middle class | 17% | 21% | 13% | 29% | 20% | 16% | 19% | 16% | 14% | |||
| Upper class | 10% | 6% | 11% | 14% | 16% | 14% | 7% | 13% | 8% | |||
| All of them | 8% | 15% | 4% | 7% | 5% | 5% | 8% | 8% | 8% | |||
| None of them | 13% | 2% | 23% | 9% | 21% | 12% | 13% | 22% | 16% | |||
| Don’t know | 13% | 9% | 8% | 15% | 6% | 13% | 9% | 11% | 13% |
39% believe that the Labor Party mainly represents working class people and 17% think they represent the middle class. 47% 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.
40% of respondents who describe themselves as working class and 44% 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.
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 | ||||
| Working class | 4% | 5% | 6% | 3% | 1% | 6% | 2% | 5% | 4% | |||
| Middle class | 15% | 8% | 28% | 7% | 11% | 13% | 19% | 20% | 17% | |||
| Upper class | 53% | 79% | 27% | 79% | 67% | 59% | 53% | 40% | 47% | |||
| All of them | 12% | 2% | 29% | 2% | 8% | 7% | 16% | 17% | 14% | |||
| None of them | 4% | 2% | 3% | 5% | 11% | 4% | 3% | 8% | 8% | |||
| Don’t know | 11% | 5% | 7% | 4% | 3% | 10% | 7% | 9% | 11% |
53% believe that the Liberal Party mainly represents upper class people and 15% think they represent the middle class. 79% of Labor voters and Greens voters think the Liberal Party mainly represent the upper class. 28% of Liberal/National voters think they represent the middle class and 29% think they represent all classes.
59% of respondents who describe themselves as working class and 53% of those who say they are middle class think the Liberal Party mainly represents the upper class.
Since this question was asked in August 2014, the proportion thinking that the Liberals represent the upper class has increased from 47% to 53%.
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
3/5/16 |
2 weeks ago
26/4/16 |
4 weeks ago
12/4/16 |
Election 7 Sep 13 | |||
| Liberal | 38% | 37% | 36% | 39% | |||
| National | 4% | 3% | 4% | 3% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 42% | 40% | 40% | 42% | 45.6% | ||
| Labor | 38% | 38% | 39% | 35% | 33.4% | ||
| Greens | 10% | 10% | 10% | 11% | 8.6% | ||
| Palmer United Party | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 5.5% | ||
| Other/Independent | 9% | 10% | 11% | 10% | 6.9% | ||
| 2 party preferred | |||||||
| Liberal National | 49% | 48% | 48% | 50% | 53.5% | ||
| Labor | 51% | 52% | 52% | 50% | 46.5% |
NB. Sample = 1,754. 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. Overall, do you approve or disapprove of the Federal Budget that was handed down on Tuesday 3rd May?
| Total
|
Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | May 2014 | May 2015 | |||
| Total approve | 20% | 11% | 41% | 6% | 9% | 30% | 34% | ||
| Total disapprove | 29% | 50% | 7% | 50% | 35% | 52% | 33% | ||
| Strongly approve | 4% | 2% | 8% | – | 1% | 10% | 8% | ||
| Approve | 16% | 9% | 33% | 6% | 8% | 20% | 26% | ||
| Neither approve nor disapprove | 35% | 30% | 45% | 27% | 40% | 14% | 26% | ||
| Disapprove | 16% | 26% | 6% | 23% | 18% | 19% | 19% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 13% | 24% | 1% | 27% | 17% | 33% | 14% | ||
| Don’t know | 15% | 9% | 8% | 17% | 17% | 4% | 8% |
20% approve of the 2016 Federal Budget and 29% disapprove. Compared to previous years, those who neither approve nor disapprove is substantially higher at 35%. Overall, the 2016 budget was rated higher than the 2014 budget but lower than the 2015 budget.
41% of Liberal/National voters approve and 50% of Labor and Greens voters disapprove.
41% of those with incomes less than $600 pw disapprove compared to 25% of those earning $2,000+ pw.
Q. Does this budget make you feel more confident or less confident in the Government’s ability to manage the economy?
| Total
|
Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | May 2015 | |||
| More confident | 21% | 15% | 38% | 8% | 11% | 31% | ||
| Less confident | 32% | 50% | 11% | 55% | 38% | 31% | ||
| A lot more confident | 4% | 1% | 9% | 1% | – | 7% | ||
| A little more confident | 17% | 14% | 29% | 7% | 11% | 24% | ||
| Makes no difference | 35% | 27% | 45% | 26% | 40% | 31% | ||
| A little less confident | 14% | 18% | 10% | 19% | 13% | 14% | ||
| A lot less confident | 18% | 32% | 1% | 36% | 25% | 17% | ||
| Don’t know | 13% | 9% | 7% | 10% | 12% | 7% |
21% (down from 31% in 2015) say it makes them feel more confident in the Government’s ability to manage the economy and 32% (up 1%) say it makes them feel less confident.
Of those earning over $1,500 pw, 28% say it makes them more confident and 26% say it makes the less confident. For those earning less than $1,000 pw, 16% were more confident and 37% less confident.
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the following measures contained in the Budget?
| Total approve | Total dis-approve
|
Strongly approve | Approve | Dis-approve | Strongly dis-approve | Don’t know | ||
| Tax cut for people earning over $80,000 | 43% | 44% | 11% | 32% | 24% | 20% | 13% | |
| Cuts of $1.2 billion to aged care providers | 19% | 70% | 5% | 14% | 30% | 40% | 11% | |
| Increasing tax on cigarettes | 72% | 21% | 45% | 27% | 11% | 10% | 7% | |
| Capping tax concessions for those with more than $1.6 million in superannuation | 62% | 21% | 28% | 34% | 13% | 8% | 17% | |
| Reducing company tax for medium and large businesses over the next 3 years | 50% | 34% | 13% | 37% | 19% | 15% | 16% | |
| A taskforce to address tax avoidance by multinational companies | 82% | 8% | 52% | 30% | 5% | 3% | 10% | |
| Internships for young unemployed which pay $100 for up to 25 hours work per week on top of their welfare payments. | 69% | 14% | 25% | 44% | 9% | 5% | 16% |
There was substantial majority approval of addressing tax avoidance by multinationals (82%), increasing tax on cigarettes (72%) and internships for young unemployed (69%).
50% approved reducing company tax – including 72% of Liberal/National voters but only 36% of Labor voters. 55% of those earning over $1,500 pw approved of tax cuts for people earning over $80,000.
Q. In general, do you think the Federal Budget, will be good or bad for?
| Total good | Total bad
|
Very good | Good | Neither good nor bad | Bad | Very bad | Don’t know | Total good
2014 |
Total bad 2014 | Total good 2015 | Total bad 2015 | |||
| You personally | 15% | 26% | 2% | 13% | 48% | 18% | 8% | 10% | 13% | 52% | 15% | 28% | ||
| Average working people | 21% | 35% | 3% | 18% | 33% | 25% | 10% | 11% | 14% | 59% | 22% | 27% | ||
| Small businesses | 53% | 12% | 11% | 42% | 22% | 9% | 3% | 13% | 36% | 23% | 66% | 6% | ||
| Big businesses | 50% | 9% | 16% | 34% | 29% | 7% | 2% | 13% | 34% | 10% | ||||
| The economy over all | 28% | 22% | 4% | 24% | 35% | 16% | 6% | 14% | 40% | 32% | 30% | 22% | ||
| People who are well off | 49% | 10% | 20% | 29% | 30% | 8% | 2% | 12% | 45% | 16% | 36% | 14% | ||
| People on lower incomes | 15% | 46% | 3% | 12% | 28% | 25% | 21% | 12% | 11% | 66% | 22% | 34% | ||
| Australian families | 16% | 36% | 3% | 13% | 35% | 24% | 12% | 13% | 11% | 62% | 29% | 27% | ||
| Older Australians | 11% | 51% | 2% | 9% | 27% | 31% | 20% | 11% | 10% | 66% | 20% | 34% | ||
| Younger Australians | 25% | 28% | 3% | 22% | 34% | 18% | 10% | 13% | 16% | 55% | 21% | 29% |
The budget was considered more likely to be good for small business (53%), big business (50%) and people who are well off (49%). It was more likely to be considered bad for older Australians (51%) and people on lower incomes (46%).
Compared to the 2015 budget it was considered worse for average working people, people on low incomes, Australian families and older Australians.
Compared to the 2015 budget it was considered better for big businesses and people who are well off.