Australian economy, economy, Essential Report, GFC, global financial crisis, Polling, polls, spending and income
Q. Thinking about the state of the world economy, how do you think the Australian economy has performed over the last few years compared to other countries?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total better | 70% | 77% | 70% | 85% |
| Total worse | 10% | 5% | 14% | 5% |
| A lot better | 31% | 41% | 27% | 48% |
| A little better | 39% | 36% | 43% | 37% |
| About the same | 16% | 17% | 15% | 8% |
| A little worse | 7% | 4% | 9% | 2% |
| A lot worse | 3% | 1% | 5% | 3% |
| Don’t know | 3% | 1% | 1% | 4% |
70% think that Australia’s economy has performed better than other countries over the last few years, 16% say about the same and 10% think it has been worse.
There were no substantial differences across demographic groups although those on higher incomes are a little more likely to believe it has performed better – 76% of those on incomes over $1,600pw compared to 67% of those earning under $1,000pw.
Australian economy, economic issues, economy, Essential Report, federal politics, Government performance, Polling, polls
Q. How do you think the Australia Government has handled our economy over the last few years?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total well | 54% | 82% | 34% | 81% |
| Total poorly | 39% | 13% | 62% | 12% |
| Very well | 9% | 22% | 2% | 16% |
| Quite well | 45% | 60% | 32% | 65% |
| Quite poorly | 26% | 11% | 39% | 8% |
| Very poorly | 13% | 2% | 23% | 4% |
| Don’t know | 7% | 6% | 4% | 7% |
54% think the Australian Government has handled the economy very well or quite well over the last few years and 39% very poorly or quite poorly. 82% of Labor voters, 81% of Greens voters and 34% of Liberal/National voters think the Government has handled the economy well. 62% of Liberal/National voters think the Government has handled the economy poorly.
60% of those aged under 35 think the Government has handled the economy well, compared to 51% of those aged 35-54 and 51% of those aged 55+
economy, Essential Report, GFC, Polling, polls
Q. How likely do you think it is that there will soon be another Global Financial Crisis (GFC) similar to the one that occurred in 2009?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total likely | 47% | 39% | 53% | 41% |
| Very likely | 20% | 17% | 22% | 12% |
| Fairly likely | 27% | 22% | 31% | 29% |
| About 50/50 | 39% | 40% | 40% | 36% |
| Not very likely | 8% | 12% | 5% | 15% |
| Don’t know | 7% | 9% | 2% | 9% |
47% believe that another GFC is very or quite likely and a further 39% think it is a 50/50 possibility.
There were no significant differences across demographic groups.
economy, Essential Report, federal politics, GFC, Polling, polls, spending and income, stimulus spending
Q. If there is another Global Financial Crisis, do you think the Australian Government should undertake the same sort of stimulus spending they did in response to the 2009 GFC?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Yes | 36% | 48% | 26% | 56% |
| No | 39% | 24% | 56% | 23% |
| Don’t know | 25% | 28% | 18% | 21% |
In the event of another GFC, 36% support stimulus spending and 39% oppose. About half of Labor and Greens voters support stimulus spending but over half of Liberal/National voters oppose.
Lower income earners are more likely to support stimulus spending – those earning under $1,000pw split 43% support/32% oppose while those earning over $1,000pw split 34% support/42% oppose.
Australian economy, Essential Report, GFC, Labor, Liberal, Polling, polls, the economy
Q. If there is another Global Financial Crisis, which party would you trust most to deal with it?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| The Labor Party | 31% | 75% | 4% | 61% |
| The Liberal Party | 40% | 4% | 82% | 5% |
| No difference | 20% | 13% | 11% | 27% |
| Don’t know | 9% | 8% | 4% | 8% |
If there was another GFC, 40% would trust the Liberal Party more to handle it and 31% would trust the Labor Party more. When a similar question was asked last week, the results were 27% Labor/43% Liberal.
The only demographic groups trusting the Labor Party more were aged 18-24 (Labor 37%/Liberals 29%) and those earning less than $600pw (Labor 41%/Liberals 32%).
2PP, Essential Report, federal politics, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls, two party preferred, voting, 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 = 2,023
| First preference/leaning to | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Liberal | 47% | 45% | 46% | 47% | |
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |
| Total Lib/Nat | 43.6 | 50% | 48% | 49% | 50% |
| Labor | 38.0 | 30% | 32% | 31% | 30% |
| Greens | 11.8 | 11% | 11% | 11% | 10% |
| Other/Independent | 6.6 | 9% | 9% | 9% | 10% |
| 2PP | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Total Lib/Nat | 49.9% | 57% | 55% | 56% | 57% |
| Labor | 50.1% | 43% | 45% | 44% | 43% |
NB. The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived 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 2010 election.
Australian economy, economy, Essential Report, GFC, global, Polling, polls
Q. From what you have read and heard, how would you rate the state of the economy of Australia?
And how would you rate the state of the economy of the USA?
And how would you rate the state of the economies of the European countries?
| Australia | USA | Europe | |
| Total getting better | 32% | 5% | 5% |
| Total getting worse | 37% | 84% | 70% |
| Getting a lot better | 7% | 1% | 1% |
| Getting a little better | 25% | 4% | 4% |
| Neither getting better nor worse | 28% | 7% | 14% |
| Getting a little worse | 27% | 26% | 27% |
| Getting a lot worse | 10% | 58% | 43% |
| Don’t know | 2% | 4% | 10% |
A majority believe that Australia’s economy is getting better but the economies of USA and Europe are getting worse.
53% of respondents think the Australian economy is getting better and 12% think it is getting worse. 62% think the USA economy is getting worse and 53% think the economies of European countries are getting worse.
For Australia, 63% of Labor voters, 66% of Greens voters and 44% of Liberal/National voters think the economy is getting better. Younger respondents were most optimistic about the Australian economy – 60% of those aged under 35 think it is getting better compared to 46% of those aged 55+.
Australian economy, economic impact, economic issues, Essential Report, GFC, global financial crisis, Polling, polls
Q. How much impact do you think the economies of other countries have on Australia’s economy?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| A lot | 47% | 44% | 49% | 46% |
| Some | 41% | 44% | 42% | 48% |
| A little | 8% | 10% | 7% | 6% |
| None | * | – | – | – |
| Don’t know | 3% | 2% | 2% | – |
47% think that the economies of other countries have a lot of impact on the Australian economy and 41% think they have some impact. Only 8% think they have little or no impact. There were no major differences across demographic groups.