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  • Oct, 2020

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    Federal budget expectations

    Q. The Federal Budget will be announced on Tuesday 6th October.

    In general, do you expect the Federal Budget will be good or bad for the following?

      Oct’20 Mar’19
      NET: Very Good / Good Neither good, nor bad NET: Very bad / Bad Don’t know NET: Very Good / Good Neither good, nor bad NET: Very bad / Bad Don’t know
    Big business 53% 26% 12% 9% – – – –
    People who are well off 51% 30% 10% 8% 58% 23% 9% 10%
    Small business 44% 26% 23% 7% – – – –
    The economy overall 34% 27% 32% 7% 35% 33% 24% 9%
    Australian families 33% 31% 29% 7% 27% 32% 33% 9%
    Older Australians 31% 28% 34% 7% 25% 28% 38% 9%
    Average working people 30% 29% 34% 6% 31% 30% 30% 9%
    People on lower incomes 30% 23% 40% 6% 26% 32% 31% 10%
    Younger Australians 29% 31% 33% 8% 24% 25% 42% 10%
    You personally 25% 36% 31% 8% 19% 37% 34% 9%
    • Budget expectations are in line with March 2019, showing people are not expecting drastically different announcements this week.
    • Over half of people think big business (53%), and those who are well-off (51%) to benefit from the budget, while the losers are expected to be those on a lower income (40% expect these to have a bad/very bad budget), older Australians (34%) and younger Australians (33%).
    • More people expect the budget announcement to be bad for them than good. A quarter of people think the budget will benefit them personally (25% think the budget will be good/very good), which is less than those expecting it to be bad/very bad for them (31%).

    By voting preference

    NET:

    Very good / Good

    		 Total Vote Labor Vote Liberal / National Vote Greens NET: Vote Other
    Big business 53% 62% 47% 68% 58%
    People who are well off 51% 62% 41% 67% 56%
    Small business 44% 41% 55% 36% 33%
    The economy overall 34% 31% 43% 31% 26%
    Australian families 33% 30% 43% 28% 23%
    Older Australians 31% 27% 39% 34% 23%
    Average working people 30% 25% 43% 19% 23%
    People on lower incomes 30% 27% 40% 24% 17%
    Younger Australians 29% 25% 37% 24% 27%
    You personally 25% 22% 32% 27% 18%
    • Labor and Greens voters are more likely than Coalition voters to expect a favourable budget for Big businesses (62% and 68% of Labor and Greens voters respectively, to 47% of Coalition) and for those well-off (62% and 67% to 41%.
    • For all other groups, Coalition voters are more likely to expect a good budget than Labor or Greens.
    • 32% of Coalition voters think they will have a good budget. This was higher than Labor (22%), Greens (27%) or those voting for another independent/minor party (18%).
  • Oct, 2020

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    Economy: Revert to old ways vs opportunity for change

    Q. Which of the following options is closest to your view on the best way for Australia to recover economically following the Covid-19 pandemic?

      Total Gender Age Group
      Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+
    Now is not the time to experiment with new ideas, we should return to the way the economy was being run 22% 23% 22% 30% 23% 15%
    The pandemic has exposed flaws in the economy and there is an opportunity to explore new ways to run the economy 78% 77% 78% 70% 77% 85%
    Base (n) 1,066 531 535 340 341 385

     

      Total Federal Voting Intention
      Labor Liberal + National Greens TOTAL: Other
    Now is not the time to experiment with new ideas, we should return to the way the economy was being run 22% 21% 24% 23% 22%
    The pandemic has exposed flaws in the economy and there is an opportunity to explore new ways to run the economy 78% 79% 76% 77% 78%
    Base (n) 1,066 332 433 91 111
    • Over three-quarters of people believe that the pandemic has exposed flaws in the economy and there is an opportunity to explore new ways to run the economy (78%) with the remaining 22% thinking that now is not the time to experiment with new ideas, we should return to the way the economy was being run.
    • Preference for exploring new ideas was selected by the majority within gender (77% of men, 78% of women), ages (70% of 18-34 year olds, 77% of 35-54 year olds and 85% of those aged over 55), and voting intention.
  • Oct, 2020

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    Economy: Direct investment vs trickle-down approach

    Q. Which of the following is closest to your view on the best way to create jobs and grow the economy?

      Total Gender Age Group
      Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+
    The government should directly invest in the economy by creating projects and jobs, and raise the standard of living for the majority of workers 69% 67% 70% 57% 66% 81%
    The government should relax regulation and lower taxes for the wealthy to encourage businesses to grow and create jobs 19% 23% 14% 28% 20% 10%
    Unsure 13% 9% 16% 15% 14% 9%
    Base (n) 1,066 531 535 340 341 385

     

      Total Federal Voting Intention
      Labor Liberal + National Greens TOTAL: Other
    The government should directly invest in the economy by creating projects and jobs, and raise the standard of living for the majority of workers 69% 72% 66% 77% 75%
    The government should relax regulation and lower taxes for the wealthy to encourage businesses to grow and create jobs 19% 17% 22% 19% 17%
    Unsure 13% 11% 12% 5% 8%
    Base (n) 1,066 332 433 91 111
    • There is a majority preference for the government to directly invest in creating jobs and growing the economy.
    • 69% opted for direct investment, while 19% preferred deregulation and lower taxes. 13% were unsure between the two options.
    • There was no difference in the support for direct investment between men and women (67% to 70%), but men were more likely to select deregulation (23% to 14%).
    • There were no differences in preference between voters of Coalition or Labor, with the majority of each all favouring direct investment (72% of Labor voters, 66% of Coalition voters).
  • Sep, 2020

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    Coronavirus concerns

    Q. To what extent are you concerned about the threat of Covid-19 (coronavirus) in Australia?

      21/09 07/09 24/08 10/08 27/07 13/07 22/06 15/06 08/06 01/06 25/05
    Very concerned 36% 37% 40% 50% 43% 36% 25% 28% 27% 32% 30%
    Quite concerned 45% 45% 46% 40% 44% 48% 50% 45% 48% 49% 49%
    Not that concerned 15% 13% 10% 7% 9% 12% 21% 23% 21% 15% 16%
    Not at all concerned 4% 5% 4% 3% 4% 3% 4% 4% 5% 4% 5%
    Base (n) 1,081 1,076 1,068 1,010 1,058 1,054 1,079 1,087 1,073 1,059 1,087
    • There has been no shift in concern about threat of Covid-19 in the past two weeks with 36% very concerned about the threat (37% in early September).
  • Sep, 2020

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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?

      21/09 07/09 24/08 10/08 27/07 13/07 22/06 15/06 08/06 01/06 25/05
    Very poor 5% 8% 6% 7% 6% 6% 4% 3% 4% 5% 4%
    Quite poor 13% 12% 11% 8% 11% 10% 8% 8% 8% 7% 6%
    Neither good, nor poor 21% 22% 22% 21% 20% 20% 17% 16% 18% 20% 16%
    Quite good 40% 40% 40% 40% 40% 40% 43% 42% 40% 39% 43%
    Very good 21% 18% 22% 24% 24% 24% 27% 30% 30% 28% 30%
    TOTAL: Poor 18% 19% 17% 16% 16% 16% 12% 11% 12% 12% 11%
    TOTAL: Good 61% 59% 61% 63% 64% 64% 71% 72% 70% 68% 73%
    Base (n) 1,081 1,076 1,068 1,010 1,058 1,054 1,079 1,087 1,073 1,059 1,087
    • Rating of the Federal Government’s handling of Covid-19 stays steady at 61% rating it very or quite good (59% earlier in the month).
  • Sep, 2020

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    State government response to Covid-19

    Q. How would you rate your state government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak?

    TOTAL: Good 21/09 07/09 24/08 10/08 27/07 13/07 22/06 15/06 08/06 01/06 25/05
    NSW 67% 57% 59% 61% 62% 63% 70% 65% 67% 62% 65%
    VIC 47% 50% 47% 49% 53% 49% 65% 75% 72% 71% 73%
    QLD 68% 66% 73% 68% 67% 69% 64% 67% 68% 69% 74%
    SA 81% 74% 65% 72% 76% 79% 79% 76% 79% 70% 84%
    WA 84% 87% 84% 86% 82% 77% 75% 77% 84% 79% 83%
    • Positive rating of the NSW Government has rebounded this week, with 67% rating the performance as very or quite good, up from 7% earlier in August.
    • Positive rating of the Victorian Government remains steady at 47% over the past two weeks.
  • Sep, 2020

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    Attitudes to latest Victorian restrictions (VICTORIA ONLY)

    Q. On 6 September, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced the state’s roadmap for easing Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

    To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about the updated restrictions?

    TOTAL: AGREE 21/09 10/08
    I have a good understanding of what I am and am not allowed to do under the current restrictions 74% 80%
    The restrictions affecting my area seem appropriate 60% 67%
    The restrictions affecting my area will be effective at stopping the spread of Covid-19 64% 63%
    State & federal governments are doing enough to help people and businesses that are negatively affected by the restrictions 40% 54%
    The changes won’t have much impact on my own lifestyle 45% 46%

     

    VICTORIA ONLY TOTAL:

    Agree

    		 TOTAL: Disagree Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree, nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree
    I have a good understanding of what I am and am not allowed to do under the current restrictions 74% 6% 43% 31% 20% 2% 4%
    The restrictions affecting my area seem appropriate 60% 19% 29% 31% 21% 9% 9%
    The restrictions affecting my area will be effective at stopping the spread of Covid-19 64% 10% 29% 35% 26% 5% 5%
    State & federal governments are doing enough to help people and businesses that are negatively affected by the restrictions 40% 24% 15% 26% 36% 16% 8%
    The changes won’t have much impact on my own lifestyle 45% 32% 20% 25% 23% 18% 15%
    •  74% of Victorians agree they have a good understanding of what they are (and are not) allowed to do under the current restrictions, this hasn’t changed significantly from the 80% who agreed earlier the lockdowns. 60% agree that the restrictions are appropriate and 64% agree that the restrictions are effective at stopping the spread of the virus.
    • 40% agree that enough is being done to help people and businesses that are negatively affected by the restrictions, this is lower that the 54% who agreed last month.
  • Sep, 2020

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    Attitudes towards Queensland border closure

    Q. To what extent do you support or oppose the Queensland state government decision to close its borders to Victoria, New South Wales and ACT to prevent the spread of Covid-19?

      Total State
      NSW VIC QLD SA WA
    Strongly oppose 13% 20% 14% 10% 5% 1%
    Somewhat oppose 13% 16% 13% 12% 7% 7%
    Somewhat support 31% 34% 35% 20% 23% 31%
    Strongly support 36% 23% 29% 50% 55% 54%
    Unsure 8% 7% 10% 8% 9% 7%
    TOTAL: Oppose 25% 36% 26% 22% 13% 8%
    TOTAL: Support 66% 57% 64% 70% 78% 85%
    Base (n) 1,081 352 274 212 85 104

     

      Total Gender Age Group Federal Voting Intention
      Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+ Labor Liberal + National Greens TOTAL: Other
    Strongly oppose 13% 15% 10% 6% 11% 19% 9% 17% 8% 24%
    Somewhat oppose 13% 15% 11% 14% 11% 14% 9% 18% 12% 15%
    Somewhat support 31% 31% 30% 40% 29% 25% 35% 30% 32% 24%
    Strongly support 36% 33% 39% 30% 39% 38% 39% 31% 40% 30%
    Unsure 8% 7% 10% 10% 10% 5% 8% 4% 8% 7%
    TOTAL: Oppose 25% 30% 22% 20% 22% 33% 17% 35% 20% 39%
    TOTAL: Support 66% 64% 69% 70% 67% 62% 74% 61% 73% 54%
    Base (n) 1,081 539 542 338 374 369 298 460 115 104
    • Two-thirds (66%) of Australians support the closure of its internal borders. Support for the decision is high in Queensland (70%), WA (85%) and SA (78%) support is lower in NSW (57%).
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