Q. Do you support or oppose Australia extending airstrikes against Islamic State into Syria?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Total Support | 48% | 43% | 68% | 19% | 53% | |
| Total Oppose | 29% | 37% | 17% | 58% | 22% | |
| Strongly support | 25% | 23% | 37% | 5% | 27% | |
| Support | 23% | 20% | 31% | 14% | 26% | |
| Oppose | 15% | 16% | 11% | 25% | 13% | |
| Strongly oppose | 14% | 21% | 6% | 33% | 9% | |
| Don’t know | 22% | 19% | 16% | 23% | 25% |
Almost half (48%) of Australians support Australia extending airstrikes against Islamic State into Syria.
29% oppose this.
Coalition voters (68%) were far more likely to support the airstrikes, while Greens were more likely to oppose (58%).
56% of males compared to 41% of females support the airstrikes.
Q. Australia and China are currently negotiating a Free Trade Agreement. Australian unions say the Free Trade Agreement fails to protect Australian workers because there is no requirement for Chinese companies to test the Australian labour market before they bring in foreign workers. The federal government says there are adequate protections in the Free Trade Agreement and that no investment will be allowed without Australian workers being offered jobs first. Whose opinion aligns most closely with your own?
| Total
|
Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| The unions, who say the Free Trade Agreement fails to protect Australian workers | 38% | 53% | 21% | 54% | 53% | |
| The federal government, who say there are adequate protections in the Free Trade Agreement | 20% | 11% | 39% | 6% | 14% | |
| Don’t know enough to say | 41% | 36% | 40% | 40% | 33% |
The largest proportion of Australians (41%) don’t know enough about the Free Trade Agreement to answer the question.
For those that could answer, 38% were more inclined to agree with the unions, while just 20% agree with the Federal government.
Labor (53%) and Greens (54%) were more inclined to agree with the unions, while Coalition voters were more likely to agree with the Federal government (39%). However, the largest proportion of Coalition voters (40%) don’t know enough to say.
Q. In the next two years, do you expect your job to be more secure, less secure or about the same?
| Total
|
Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Oct 2014 | Feb 2015 | |||
| More Secure | 7% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 9% | 14% | 9% | ||
| Less secure | 28% | 32% | 23% | 31% | 28% | 31% | 29% | ||
| Much more secure | 2% | 2% | 3% | 1% | 4% | 5% | 3% | ||
| Somewhat more secure | 5% | 6% | 5% | 7% | 5% | 9% | 6% | ||
| About the same | 50% | 45% | 58% | 49% | 47% | 50% | 58% | ||
| Somewhat less secure | 16% | 19% | 15% | 17% | 12% | 17% | 17% | ||
| Much less secure | 12% | 13% | 8% | 14% | 16% | 14% | 12% | ||
| Don’t know | 15% | 15% | 12% | 12% | 17% | 4% | 4% |
Just 7% of Australians feel that their job will become more secure over the next two years. 28% feel it will become less secure while the largest proportion (50%) feel it will stay about the same.
There were no significant differences based on voting intention.
The only significant change from the last time this question was asked in February 2015 is the increase in ‘don’t know’ from 4% to 15%.
Q. Over the next 12 months do you think economic conditions in Australia will get better, get worse or stay much the same?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Oct 2010 | Oct 2011 | August 2012 |
Jan 2013 |
Sept 2013 | |||||
| Get Better | 16% | 15% | 23% | 8% | 10% | 40% | 16% | 22% | 29% | 38% | ||||
| Get Worse | 59% | 67% | 51% | 69% | 58% | 30% | 58% | 45% | 37% | 33% | ||||
| Get a lot better | 3% | 2% | 4% | 1% | 1% | 6% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 7% | ||||
| Get a little better | 13% | 13% | 19% | 7% | 9% | 34% | 14% | 19% | 25% | 31% | ||||
| Get a little worse | 39% | 44% | 36% | 44% | 36% | 20% | 41% | 30% | 28% | 23% | ||||
| Get a lot worse | 20% | 23% | 15% | 25% | 22% | 10% | 17% | 15% | 9% | 10% | ||||
| Stay much the same | 18% | 12% | 22% | 14% | 26% | 24% | 22% | 27% | 27% | 19% | ||||
| No opinion | 7% | 4% | 4% | 9% | 5% | 6% | 4% | 6% | 6% | 10% |
Just 16% of Australians believe that over the next 12 months, economic conditions in Australia will get better. Over half (59%) believe they will get worse.
Labor (67%) and Greens (69%) voters were more likely than Coalition voters (51%) to think that economic conditions in Australia would get worse over the next 12 months.
Since the first time this question was asked in September 2013, the percentage of Australians who believe economic conditions will get worse has risen from 33% to 59%.
federal politics voting intention
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?
Q. If don’t know -Well which party are you currently leaning to?
Sample size = 1,772 respondents
| First preference/leaning to | Election 7 Sep 13 | 4 weeks ago11/8/15 | 2 weeks ago 25/8/15 | Last week1/9/15 | This week 8/9/15 | |
| Liberal | 38% | 38% | 37% | 36% | ||
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 4% | ||
| Total Liberal/National | 45.6% | 40% | 41% | 40% | 40% | |
| Labor | 33.4% | 39% | 37% | 38% | 38% | |
| Greens | 8.6% | 11% | 10% | 11% | 11% | |
| Palmer United Party | 5.5% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% | |
| Other/Independent | 6.9% | 8% | 10% | 10% | 9% |
| 2 Party Preferred | Election 7 Sep 13 | 4 weeks ago11/8/15 | 2 weeks ago 25/8/15 | Last week1/9/15 | This week 8/9/15 | |
| Liberal National | 53.5% | 47% | 49% | 48% | 48% | |
| Labor | 46.5% | 53% | 51% | 52% | 52% |
NB. 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. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Prime Minister?
| Total | Vote Lab | Vote Lib/ Nat |
Vote Grns | Vote Other | Sep 2013 | June 2014 | Dec 2014 | Mar 2015 | Jun 2015 | Jul 2015 | Aug 2015 | |||
| Total approve | 33% | 7% | 75% | 3% | 19% | 41% | 35% | 32% | 31% | 39% | 37% | 38% | ||
| Total disapprove | 57% | 88% | 17% | 91% | 69% | 36% | 58% | 55% | 56% | 50% | 53% | 53% | ||
| Strongly approve | 9% | 2% | 22% | – | 4% | 14% | 10% | 8% | 7% | 11% | 11% | 9% | ||
| Approve | 24% | 5% | 53% | 3% | 15% | 27% | 25% | 24% | 24% | 28% | 26% | 29% | ||
| Disapprove | 25% | 30% | 15% | 22% | 39% | 13% | 18% | 22% | 22% | 23% | 24% | 22% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 32% | 58% | 2% | 69% | 30% | 23% | 40% | 33% | 34% | 27% | 29% | 31% | ||
| Don’t know | 10% | 5% | 8% | 6% | 11% | 23% | 7% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 10% | 10% |
33% of respondents approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Prime Minister – a drop of 5% since the last time this question was asked in August.
57%% disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing (up 4%). Tony Abbott’s net approval rating has dropped from -15 in August to -24 in September.
75% of Liberal/National voters voters approve of Tony Abbott’s performance (down 7% from 82%), with 17% (up 7%) disapproving. 88% of Labor voters and 91% of Greens voters disapprove of Tony Abbott’s performance.
By gender men were 35% approve/58% disapprove and women 31% approve/56% disapprove.
VIC was the state with the highest disapproval rating (61% disapprove and 31% approve). QLD also registered a high disapproval rating (58% disapprove and 31% approve). Out of the three largest states NSW gave Tony Abbott the highest approval rating (39% approve and 49% disapprove).
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Bill Shorten is doing as Opposition Leader?
| Total | Vote Lab | Vote Lib/ Nat |
Vote Grns | Vote Other | Nov 2013 | June 2014 | Dec 2014 | Mar 2015 | Jun 2015 | Jul 2015 | Aug 2015 | |||
| Total approve | 29% | 58% | 15% | 25% | 8% | 31% | 38% | 35% | 34% | 32% | 27% | 29% | ||
| Total disapprove | 50% | 21% | 72% | 50% | 71% | 27% | 40% | 39% | 39% | 45% | 52% | 52% | ||
| Strongly approve | 5% | 10% | 3% | 5% | – | 5% | 7% | 7% | 5% | 6% | 5% | 4% | ||
| Approve | 24% | 48% | 12% | 20% | 8% | 26% | 31% | 28% | 29% | 26% | 22% | 25% | ||
| Disapprove | 27% | 17% | 27% | 37% | 49% | 17% | 22% | 23% | 21% | 27% | 28% | 31% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 23% | 4% | 45% | 13% | 22% | 10% | 18% | 16% | 18% | 18% | 24% | 21% | ||
| Don’t know | 21% | 21% | 12% | 26% | 21% | 43% | 22% | 26% | 27% | 22% | 21% | 19% |
29% (no change) of respondents approve of the job Bill Shorten is doing as opposition leader and 50% (down 2%) disapprove – a change in his net rating from -23 to -21.
58% (up 2%) of Labor voters approve of the job Bill Shorten is doing and 21% (down 5%) disapprove.
30% of men and 28% of women approve of Bill Shorten. 57% of men and 43% of women disapprove.
Out of the three largest states, VIC gave Bill Shorten the lowest approval rating (25% approve and 50% disapprove). There were no significant differences between the two other largest states with 49% disapproving in NSW (29% approve) and 48% disapproving in QLD (28% approve).
Better Prime Minister, Tony Abbott as Prime Minister
Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten?
| Total | Vote Lab | Vote Lib/ Nat |
Vote Grn | Vote Other | Oct 2013 | June 2014 | Dec 2014 | Mar 2015 | Jun 2015 | Jul 2015 | Aug 2015 | |||
| Tony Abbott | 32% | 3% | 77% | 2% | 21% | 41% | 36% | 31% | 33% | 38% | 37% | 36% | ||
| Bill Shorten | 35% | 72% | 5% | 60% | 23% | 22% | 40% | 36% | 37% | 33% | 30% | 32% | ||
| Don’t know | 32% | 25% | 17% | 39% | 56% | 37% | 24% | 33% | 30% | 29% | 33% | 31% |
32% (down 4% since July) of respondents think Tony Abbott would make the better Prime Minister and 35% (up 3%) think Bill Shorten would make the better Prime Minister.
Women increasingly prefer Bill Shorten (35% up from 32% in July). Women are less likely to prefer Tony Abbot than in July (29% down from 36% in July).
35% of men prefer Tony Abbott and 36% prefer Bill Shorten.
Tony Abbott is the preferred PM in NSW (37% compared to 29% from Bill Shorten), but Bill Shorten is preferred in QLD (33% compared to 30%) and VIC (39% compared to 32%).