The Essential Report Archive Read the latest report

  • Jul, 2011

    , , , , , , , ,

    Party Interests – Labor Party

    Q. Do you think the Labor Party is more concerned about the interests of big business or voters – or do they balance the interests of both?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    More concerned about big business 33% 18% 41% 30%
    More concerned about voters 22% 18% 29% 20%
    Balance interests of both 23% 50% 10% 27%
    Don’t know 22% 14% 20% 23%

    33% think the Labor Party are more concerned about the interests of big business and 22% think they are more concerned about voters’ interests. 23% think they balance the interests of both.

    Comments »

  • Jul, 2011

    , , , , , , , , ,

    Party Interests – Liberal Party

    Q. Do you think the Liberal Party is more concerned about the interests of big business or voters – or do they balance the interests of both?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    More concerned about big business 41% 68% 18% 67%
    More concerned about voters 13% 8% 20% 3%
    Balance interests of both 30% 8% 56% 11%
    Don’t know 15% 16% 7% 19%

    41% think the Liberal Party are more concerned about the interests of big business and 13% think they are more concerned about voters’ interests. 30% think they balance the interests of both.

    Comments »

  • Jul, 2011

    , , , , , , , ,

    Same Sex Marriage

    Q. Do you think people of the same sex should or should not be allowed to marry?

    15 Nov 2010 14 Mar 2011 4 Jul 11 Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Should be allowed to marry 53% 49% 54% 65% 41% 85%
    Should not be allowed to marry 36% 40% 35% 23% 48% 9%
    Don’t know 11% 10% 11% 12% 10% 6%

    54% think that people of the same sex should be allowed to marry and 35% think they should not. This represents an increase in support for same-sex marriage since this question was asked in March – however, similar to the result from last November.

    Strongest support came from women (62%) and those aged under 35 (63%).

    Comments »

  • Jun, 2011

    , , , , ,

    Balance of Power in the Senate

    Q. From July, the Greens will hold the balance of power in the Senate. Do you think this will be good or bad for Australia? (This question was commissioned by Network Ten).

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Men Women Age

    18-34

    Aged

    35-54

    Aged 55+
    Total good 33% 44% 13% 95% 32% 36% 44% 34% 22%
    Total bad 45% 29% 73% 1% 52% 39% 29% 45% 65%
    Very good 10% 11% 2% 56% 9% 12% 12% 11% 7%
    Good 23% 33% 11% 39% 23% 24% 32% 23% 15%
    Bad 17% 21% 19% 1% 18% 16% 14% 19% 17%
    Very bad 28% 8% 54% 34% 23% 15% 26% 48%
    Make no difference 11% 15% 8% 2% 9% 12% 13% 10% 9%
    Don’t know 11% 11% 5% 1% 8% 14% 15% 11% 5%

    33% think that the Greens holding the balancer of power in the Senate will be good for Australia and 45% think it will be bad – 11% think it will make no difference. Labor voters are more likely to think it will be good (44% good to 29% bad) while Liberal/National voters overwhelmingly think it will be bad (73%).

    Women (36% good/39% bad) were somewhat more positive than men (32% good/52% bad) while younger respondents were much more likely to think it would be good than older respondents.

    Comments »

  • Jun, 2011

    , , , , , , , , , , ,

    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 = 1,874

    First preference/leaning to Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago 2 weeks ago Last week This week
    Liberal 44% 44% 45% 45%
    National 3% 3% 3% 3%
    Total Lib/Nat 43.6 47% 46% 47% 48%
    Labor 38.0 34% 34% 32% 32%
    Greens 11.8 12% 12% 12% 11%
    Other/Independent 6.6 8% 8% 9% 9%
    2PP Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago 2 weeks ago Last week This week
    Total Lib/Nat 49.9% 54% 54% 55% 55%
    Labor 50.1% 46% 46% 45% 45%

    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.

    Comments »

  • Jun, 2011

    , , , , , , , , , ,

    Vote if Kevin Rudd Labor Leader

    Q. If Kevin Rudd was the leader of the Labor Party (and Tony Abbott was leader of the Liberal Party), to which party will you probably give your first preference vote if a Federal Election was held today? If not sure, which party would you lean toward?

    First preference Total Gave vote
    Liberal 36% 39%
    National 3% 3%
    Total Lib/Nat 39% 42%
    Labor 41% 45%
    Greens 7% 8%
    Other/Independent 5% 6%
    Don’t know 8%

    If Kevin Rudd was leader of the Labor Party (and Tony Abbott was leader of the Liberal Party) 45% said they would give their first preference vote to Labor (up 13%) and 42% to the Liberal or National Parties (down 6%). The Greens vote drops 3% to 8%.

    In two party preferred terms, this equates to 53% Labor/47% Liberal/National – a swing of 8% to Labor.

    Most of the increased Labor vote comes from Liberal/National voters  – 12% of Liberal/National voters said they would vote Labor if Kevin Rudd was leader.

    Groups with the largest shifts to Labor were women, aged under 35, NSW and lower incomes.

    Comments »

  • Jun, 2011

    , , , , , , , , ,

    Vote if Malcolm Turnbull Liberal Leader

    Q. If Malcolm Turnbull was the leader of the Liberal Party (and Julia Gillard was leader of the Labor Party), to which party will you probably give your first preference vote if a Federal Election was held today? If not sure, which party would you lean toward?

    First preference Total Gave vote
    Liberal 44% 49%
    National 4% 4%
    Total Lib/Nat 48% 53%
    Labor 28% 31%
    Greens 7% 8%
    Other/Independent 7% 8%
    Don’t know 10%

    If Malcolm Turnbull was leader of the Liberal Party (and Julia Gillard was leader of the Labor Party) 31% said they would give their first preference vote to Labor (down 1%) and 53% to the Liberal or National Parties (up 5%). The Greens vote drops 3% to 8%.

    In two party preferred terms, this equates to 41% Labor/59% Liberal/National – a swing of 4% to Liberal/National.

    Most of the increased Liberal/National vote comes from Labor voters  – 13% of Labor voters said they would vote Liberal if Malcolm Turnbull was leader.

    The group with the largest shift to Liberal/National was people on higher incomes.

    Comments »

  • Jun, 2011

    , , , , , , , , ,

    Attributes to describe the Prime Minister

    Q.  Which of the following describe your opinion of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard?

    5 Jul 10 4 Oct 10 7 Feb 11 27 Jun 11 Difference
    Intelligent 87% 81% 75% 73% -2%
    Hard-working 89% 82% 76% 75% -1%
    A capable leader 72% 59% 52% 42% -10%
    Arrogant 37% 39% 44% 48% +4%
    Out of touch with ordinary people 35% 44% 50% 60% +10%
    Understands the problems facing Australia 68% 55% 52% 44% -8%
    Visionary 48% 38% 30% 26% -4%
    Superficial 51% 52% +1%
    Good in a crisis 61% 46% 46% 41% -5%
    Narrow-minded 28% 35% 43% 46% +3%
    More honest than most politicians 45% 37% 37% 29% -8%
    Trustworthy 49% 42% 40% 30% -10%

    Julia Gillard’s key attributes were hard-working (75%), intelligent (73%) and out of touch with ordinary people (60%).

    Major changes since this question was asked in February were an increase of 10% for out of touch (to 60%) and decreases for a capable leader (down 10% to 42%) and trustworthy (down 10% to 30%).

    Comments »

Error: