The Essential Report Archive Read the latest report

  • Mar, 2021

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    Trust in institutions to ensure work is a safe place for women

    Q. How much would you trust the following institutions to ensure work is a safe place for women?

    TOTAL: Trust Total Gender Age Group Federal Voting Intention
    Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+ Labor TOTAL: Coalition Greens TOTAL: Other
    Public service 50% 56% 45% 52% 55% 44% 51% 57% 53% 40%
    Private companies 48% 56% 41% 48% 48% 49% 46% 56% 49% 49%
    Political offices 34% 41% 27% 34% 38% 30% 30% 45% 21% 31%
    Sporting clubs 40% 49% 30% 39% 42% 37% 40% 44% 26% 45%
    Entertainment industry 36% 42% 31% 32% 43% 33% 37% 41% 25% 41%
    Base (n) 1,074 527 547 326 363 385 335 396 106 138
    • While trust in political offices is low overall, just 27% of women trust political offices to ensure work is a safe place for them.
    • Compared to other voters, Greens voters are the least likely to trust political offices to ensure a safe working environment for women (21% to 30% Labor voters, 45% Coalition and 31% minor and independent party voters).
  • Mar, 2021

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    Views towards sexual assault of women in Parliament

     Q. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about the recent allegations of rape and sexual assault from women working in Parliament?

    TOTAL: Agree Total Gender Age Group Federal Voting Intention
    Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+ Labor TOTAL: Coalition Greens TOTAL: Other
    The government has been more interested in protecting itself than the interests of those who have been assaulted 65% 62% 68% 66% 69% 61% 76% 51% 88% 69%
    Women can face a hard time in workplaces in all professions, but politics has a particular problem with harassment and assault 61% 58% 64% 62% 64% 58% 67% 54% 75% 56%
    Workplaces only change when women are equally represented in leadership positions 57% 52% 62% 60% 59% 53% 60% 52% 69% 57%
    There is no difference in the way the different political parties treat women 45% 54% 37% 36% 44% 54% 41% 53% 30% 48%
    Base (n) 1,074 527 547 326 363 385 335 396 106 138
    • 65% agree the government has been more interested in protecting itself than the interests of those who have been assaulted, with Greens voters most likely to agree with this statement (88%), followed by Labor voters (76%) and minor and independent party voters (69%). About half (51%) of Coalition voters agree with this.
    • Less than half (45%) agree there is no difference in the way the different political parties treat women. Of this, 53% of Coalition voters agree, compared to 30% of Greens voters, 41% of Labor voters and 48% of minor and independent party voters.
    • 61% agree women can face a hard time in workplaces in all professions, but politics has a particular problem with harassment and assault. 44% of Greens voters strongly agree with this, compared to 34% Labor voters and 35% minor and independent party voters. Only 21% of Coalition voters strongly agree with this statement.
    • 57% agree workplaces only change when women are equally represented in leadership positions and while agreement towards this is consistent across most demographics, men are more likely than women to disagree (20% to 9% respectively).
  • Mar, 2021

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    Frequency of reading news on technology platforms

    Q. How frequently do you use technology platforms like Google and social media to search for and read news articles?

      Mar’21 Sep’20
    At least daily 49% 52%
    At least once a week 24% 22%
    At least once a month 7% 8%
    Less frequently than one a month 10% 6%
    Never 11% 11%
    Base (n) 1,074 1,076

     

      Total Age Group
      18-34 35-54 55+
    At least daily 49% 51% 58% 38%
    At least once a week 24% 28% 25% 20%
    At least once a month 7% 10% 6% 5%
    Less frequently than one a month 10% 7% 6% 17%
    Never 11% 4% 6% 20%
    Base (n) 1,074 326 363 385
    • Just under half (49%) of adult Australians use Google and social media to search and read news on a daily basis (down 3 percentage points since Sep’20). A further 24% use these platforms at least weekly.
    • People aged 35-54 are the heaviest consumers of news through Google and social media, with 58% using these platforms on a daily basis.
  • Mar, 2021

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    Support towards measures to regulate big tech companies

    Q. To what extent would you support or oppose the following measures if they were introduced to regulate big tech companies?

    TOTAL: Support Total Gender Age Group Federal Voting Intention
    Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+ Labor TOTAL: Coalition Greens TOTAL: Other
    Force tech companies to remove misinformation and disinformation from their platforms 76% 74% 77% 70% 69% 87% 75% 76% 85% 75%
    Require tech companies to let you know all the information about you they hold and give you the right to remove it from their servers 76% 75% 76% 70% 71% 85% 78% 77% 81% 72%
    Prevent tech companies from selling your personal information to other companies 79% 79% 79% 73% 75% 88% 78% 80% 85% 80%
    Enforce upon tech companies the payment of tax on all Australians earnings 69% 73% 65% 57% 64% 84% 71% 71% 67% 74%
    Base (n) 1,074 527 547 326 363 385 335 396 106 138
    • Support is highest among those over 55 towards preventing tech companies from selling your personal information to other companies (88% compared to 75% of those 35-54 and 73% of those 18-34).
    • Those over 55 are also more likely to strongly support the measure to force tech companies to remove misinformation and disinformation from their platforms than younger cohorts (68% to 46% 35-54 and 44% 18-34).
    • While support is high overall towards requiring tech companies to let you know all the information about you they hold and give you the right to remove it from their servers, again, those over 55 are more likely to strongly support this than younger audiences (63% to 51% 35-54 and 46% those 18-34).
  • Feb, 2021

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    Performance of Scott Morrison

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Scott Morrison is doing as Prime Minister?

    Feb’21 Jan’21 Dec’20 Nov’20 Oct’20 Sep’20 Aug’20 Jul’20 Jun’20 May’20 Apr’20 Mar’20
    TOTAL: Approve 65% 61% 62% 66% 63% 64% 66% 63% 65% 64% 59% 41%
    TOTAL: Disapprove 28% 30% 28% 25% 27% 28% 23% 27% 26% 27% 31% 49%
    Don’t know 7% 9% 11% 9% 10% 8% 11% 10% 8% 9% 10% 10%
    Base (n) 1,109 1,084 1,071 1,010 1,082 1,076 1,010 1,054 1,059 1,093 1,069 1,096

     

      Total Federal Voting Intention
    Labor Coalition Greens TOTAL: Other
    Strongly approve 23% 8% 44% 6% 17%
    Approve 42% 40% 49% 29% 40%
    Disapprove 16% 24% 4% 30% 27%
    Strongly disapprove 11% 20% 1% 29% 11%
    Don’t know 7% 7% 2% 6% 5%
    TOTAL: Approve 65% 49% 93% 35% 57%
    TOTAL: Disapprove 28% 44% 5% 59% 37%
    Base (n) 1,109 359 428 101 131
    • The Prime Minister’s approval rating has increased to 65%, the highest rating since November last year.
    • Approval of the Prime Minister is now at 93% among Coalition supporters (90% last month) and 49% among Labor voters (47% last month).
  • Feb, 2021

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    Performance of Anthony Albanese

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Anthony Albanese is doing as Opposition Leader?

    Feb’21 Jan’21 Dec’20 Nov’20 Oct’20 Sep’20 Aug’20 Jul’20 Jun’20 May’20 Apr’20 Mar’20
    TOTAL: Approve 40% 42% 43% 40% 44% 44% 44% 44% 43% 42% 44% 41%
    TOTAL: Disapprove 33% 33% 29% 33% 29% 29% 30% 28% 30% 27% 29% 33%
    Don’t know 27% 25% 28% 27% 27% 27% 25% 28% 26% 31% 27% 26%
    Base (n) 1,109 1,084 1,071 1,010 1,082 1,076 1,010 1,054 1,059 1,093 1,069 1,096

     

      Total Federal Voting Intention
    Labor Coalition Greens TOTAL: Other
    Strongly approve 10% 13% 10% 6% 10%
    Approve 30% 45% 21% 28% 27%
    Disapprove 22% 13% 30% 28% 25%
    Strongly disapprove 11% 4% 18% 4% 16%
    Don’t know 27% 25% 21% 33% 22%
    TOTAL: Approve 40% 58% 31% 35% 37%
    TOTAL: Disapprove 33% 17% 48% 32% 42%
    Base (n) 1,109 359 428 101 131
    • The Opposition Leader’s approval rating is now at 40%, down from 42% last month and the lowest rating since last November.
    • Approval of the Opposition Leader has fallen to 58% among Labor voters (from 63% in January) and 31% among Coalition voters (down from 35% in January).
  • Feb, 2021

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    Preferred Prime Minister

    Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese?

      Feb’21 Jan’21 Dec’20 Nov’20 Oct’20 Sep’20 Aug’20 Jul’20 Jun’20 May’20 Apr’20 Mar’20
    Scott Morrison 52% 51% 50% 53% 50% 49% 52% 50% 53% 50% 46% 40%
    Anthony Albanese 24% 25% 24% 24% 25% 26% 22% 27% 23% 25% 27% 35%
    Don’t know 24% 25% 26% 24% 25% 25% 26% 23% 24% 25% 27% 25%
    Base (n) 1,109 1,084 1,071 1,010 1,082 1,076 1,010 1,054 1,059 1,093 1,069 1,096

     

     

        Federal Voting Intention
    Total Labor Coalition Greens TOTAL: Other
    Scott Morrison 52% 33% 83% 33% 40%
    Anthony Albanese 24% 42% 7% 39% 28%
    Don’t know 24% 25% 11% 28% 31%
    Base (n) 1,109 359 428 101 131
    • Just over half of participants believe that Scott Morrison would make a better PM than Anthony Albanese (52%), while around a quarter would prefer the Opposition Leader (24%). About a further quarter (24%) of participants don’t know who would make the better PM.
    • Morrison is strongly favoured by Coalition voters, with 83% believing Morrison makes the better PM, compared to Albanese (7%).
    • 42% of Labor voters believe Albanese would make the better PM, a decrease since last month (47%). A quarter (25%) of Labor voters said they don’t know who would make the better leader.
  • Feb, 2021

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    Federal government response to Covid-19

    Q. Overall, how would you rate the federal government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak?

      15/02 01/02 30/11 16/11 02/11 05/10 21/09 07/09 24/08 10/08 27/07 13/07
    Very poor 5% 4% 6% 5% 5% 5% 5% 8% 6% 7% 6% 6%
    Quite poor 7% 11% 8% 9% 10% 12% 13% 12% 11% 8% 11% 10%
    Neither good nor poor 19% 19% 19% 18% 24% 22% 21% 22% 22% 21% 20% 20%
    Quite good 42% 42% 41% 41% 39% 39% 40% 40% 40% 40% 40% 40%
    Very good 27% 25% 26% 26% 22% 21% 21% 18% 22% 24% 24% 24%
    TOTAL: Poor 12% 14% 13% 15% 15% 18% 18% 19% 17% 16% 16% 16%
    TOTAL: Good 69% 67% 67% 67% 61% 60% 61% 59% 61% 63% 64% 64%
    Base (n) 1,109 1,092 1,034 1,010 1,063 1,066 1,081 1,076 1,068 1,010 1,058 1,054
    • Rating of the federal government’s handling of Covid-19 has increased to 69% since last month, the highest rating in the last six months.
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