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  • Feb, 2011

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    Fastest Growing Religion

    Q. Which of the following religions do you think has grown the fastest in Australia during the 10 years between 1996 and 2006, when the last national census was taken?


    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Christianity (including Catholic, Uniting Church, Anglican, etc) 8% 7% 11% 7%
    Hinduism 3% 2% 3% 4%
    Islam (Muslim) 57% 58% 64% 50%
    Buddhism 5% 3% 4% 11%
    Judaism (Jewish) * 1%
    Don’t know/Refuse 27% 29% 19% 27%


    57% believe that Islam is the fastest growing religion in Australia. This perception is broadly similar across all age/gender groups – although a little higher for Liberal/National voters (64%) and those aged 55+ (65%).

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  • Feb, 2011

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    Muslims in Australia

    Q. What percentage of Australian residents do you think are Muslim?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    1% 6% 6% 7% 8%
    2% 11% 10% 14% 9%
    3-5% 26% 26% 25% 37%
    6-10% 20% 19% 22% 18%
    More than 10% 19% 20% 19% 17%
    Don’t know 18% 20% 13% 11%

    17% think that Muslims make up 1-2% of Australia’s population, 26% think they make up 3-5% and 39% think it is over 5%. The actual figure is 1.7% – meaning 65% have over-estimated the number of Muslims in Australia.

    There were only minor differences between age, gender and voter groups.

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  • Feb, 2011

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    Concern about Muslims (post information)

    Q. The 2006 Census figures show that in fact the fastest growing religions in Australia are Hinduism, Buddhism and then Islam.   Presently, only 1.71% of the Australian population identifies as Muslim.  In light of this information, how concerned are you about the number of Muslim people in Australia?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Total concerned 50% 43% 62% 22%
    Total not concerned 45% 54% 35% 76%
    Very Concerned 22% 18% 29% 11%
    Somewhat concerned 28% 25% 33% 11%
    Not very concerned 26% 27% 24% 32%
    Not at all concerned 19% 27% 11% 44%
    Don’t know 5% 4% 4% 1%

    After being given some information about the number of Muslims in Australia, 50% said they were still very/somewhat concerned and 45% said they were not very or not at all concerned. This represents a 7% fall in level of concern from the question asked before this information was given to respondents.

    All demographic and voter groups showed a similar fall in level of concern.

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  • Feb, 2011

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    Politicians Raising Race/Religion Issues

    Q. Do you think some politicians raise issues of race and religion for political purposes just to generate votes or do you think these politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Some politicians raise issues of race and religion for political purposes just to generate votes 61% 66% 55% 80%
    These politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future 27% 21% 37% 14%
    Don’t know 12% 12% 7% 5%

    61% believed that some politicians raise issues of race and religion for political purposes just to generate votes and 27% thought these politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future.

    Those most likely to think these politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future were Liberal/National voters (37%) – and among people aged 55+, 34% thought these politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future and 58% thought they use race and religion for political purposes.

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  • Feb, 2011

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    The great rock ‘n’ coal swindle

    First published on The Drum: 22/02/2011

    If there is any silver lining from the mining industry’s 20,800 per cent return on investment for knocking over the Rudd Government’s Resource Rent Tax, it’s that the punters are beginning to wise up.

    As interest groups around the nation hone their scare campaigns in expectation of a price on carbon, this week’s Essential Report suggests the mining industry has dealt themselves out of any credible role in the debate.

    With record profits the size of many sovereign nation’s GDPs and ongoing plans to extract even more of the national wealth, a majority of the public say they support forcing the mining industry to pay a greater share of their profits in tax.

    Q: Would you approve or disapprove of higher taxes on the profits of large mining companies?

    Total Vote
    Labor
    Vote
    Lib/Nat
    Vote
    Greens
    Total approve 56% 75% 36% 83%
    Total disapprove 27% 13% 49% 6%
    Strongly approve 21% 32% 6% 46%
    Approve 35% 43% 30% 37%
    Disapprove 20% 11% 35% 4%
    Strongly disapprove 7% 2% 14% 2%
    Don’t know 17% 13% 15% 11%

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  • Feb, 2011

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    Trust in Federal Leaders

    Q. Who do you trust most to deliver good policies for Australia’s future?
    (Question commissioned by Network Ten)

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Julia Gillard 40% 81% 5% 62%
    Tony Abbott 31% 1% 72% 2%
    Don’t know 29% 18% 23% 36%

    40% have most trust in Julia Gillard to deliver good policies for Australia’s future and 31% trust Tony Abbott most.

    Opinions closely follow party preference although Julia Gillard is overwhelmingly trusted more by Greens voters (62% to 2%).

    Women are less trusting of Tony Abbott – 40% of men trust Julia Gillard and 36% trust Tony Abbott while 41% of women trust Julia Gillard and only 26% trust Tony Abbott.

    Younger people are also less likely to trust Tony Abbott – those aged 55+ trust Tony Abbott (44%) more than Julia Gillard (36%) while those aged under 35 trust Julia Gillard more (42% Gillard/24% Abbott).

    Download the Network Ten Essential Question of the Week. (1.1 MB pdf)

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  • Feb, 2011

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    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 = 1,913

    First preference/leaning to Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago 2 weeks ago Last week This week
    Liberal 42% 43% 41% 40%
    National 3% 3% 3% 3%
    Total Lib/Nat 43.6 45% 46% 44% 43%
    Labor 38.0 37% 38% 40% 39%
    Greens 11.8 11% 10% 10% 11%
    Other/Independent 6.6 7% 7% 6% 7%
    2PP Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago 2 weeks ago Last week This week
    Total Lib/Nat 49.9% 51% 51% 50% 49%
    Labor 50.1% 49% 49% 50% 51%

    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.

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  • Feb, 2011

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    Approval of Healthcare Agreement

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the recent agreement between the Federal and State Governments for the Federal Government to provide 50% of growth funding for Australia’s healthcare system?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Total approve 67% 81% 62% 74%
    Total disapprove 9% 4% 15% 4%
    Strongly approve 18% 31% 10% 25%
    Approve 49% 50% 52% 49%
    Disapprove 6% 4% 10% 3%
    Strongly disapprove 3% * 5% 1%
    Don’t know 24% 15% 24% 21%

    Two-thirds of respondents approved of the recent agreement between the Federal and State Governments for the Federal Government to provide 50% of growth funding for Australia’s healthcare system and only 9% disapproved. All voter groups showed strong majority approval.

    Older people were more supportive than younger people – 71% of those aged 55+ approved compared to 60% of those aged under 18-35. By state, Victoria had the highest approval at 72%.

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