Mining Tax Advertising
Q. Thinking about the proposed resources super profits tax and the current advertising by the Government and the mining companies, who is more believable – the Government or the mining companies?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other/Ind. | |
| The Government | 33% | 62% | 9% | 51% | 28% |
| The mining companies | 36% | 11% | 68% | 20% | 37% |
| Don’t know | 31% | 28% | 23% | 29% | 35% |
Respondents were divided over the believability of advertising by the Government and the mining industry of the proposed resources super profits tax.
36% think the mining companies’ advertising is more believable and 33% think the Government’s is more believable. 31% don’t know which is more believable.
Opinions are closely associated with voting intention. 62% of Labor voters think the Government’s advertising is more believable and 68% of Liberal/National voters favour the mining companies’. Greens voters are more likely to believe the Government (51%/20%).
There is a significant difference in opinion by gender – men are more likely to believe the Government (Govt. 41%/Mining cos. 36%/Don’t know 24%) and women more likely to believe the mining companies or say they don’t know (26%/35%/38%). Comments »
John Howard as Head of ICC
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the former Prime Minister John Howard becoming head of the International Cricket Council?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | |
| Total approve | 32% | 18% | 56% |
| Total disapprove | 18% | 31% | 6% |
| Strongly approve | 8% | 4% | 15% |
| Approve | 24% | 14% | 41% |
| Disapprove | 10% | 19% | 4% |
| Strongly disapprove | 8% | 12% | 2% |
| No opinion | 50% | 51% | 38% |
Exactly half the respondents have no opinion about John Howard becoming head of the International Cricket Council – 32% approve and 18% disapprove.
56% of Liberal/National voters approve but 31% of Labor voters disapprove and 18% approve.
57% of women and 60% of people aged under 35 have no opinion. Men approve 35% to 22%.
Political Ads are All About Turnaround
When the Australian Workers Union decided to inject itself into the national debate on the resource Rent Tax, they called EMC with a challenging brief.
With a 48 hour turn around we were asked to script produce and deliver a 30 second TV ad that would rebut the increasingly shrill complaints of the mining lobby.
Working with Milko Productions, EMC adapted a concept we had been working on for some time – the notion that the mining industry is defined by what it takes out of Australia. Comments »
Federal politics – voting intention
Q. If there was a Federal election held today, to which party would you probably give your first preference?
Q. If you ‘don’t know’ on the above question, which party are you currently leaning to?
1,866 sample size
| First preference/leaning to | 6 months ago | 4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Liberal | 31% | 36% | 41% | 39% | 39% |
| National | 4% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Total Lib/Nat | 35% | 39% | 43% | 41% | 41% |
| Labor | 47% | 40% | 38% | 40% | 39% |
| Greens | 8% | 11% | 10% | 10% | 9% |
| Family First | 3% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Other/Independent | 7% | 7% | 7% | 7% | 8% |
| 2PP | 6 months ago | 4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Total Lib/Nat | 42% | 47% | 50% | 48% | 49% |
| Labor | 58% | 53% | 50% | 52% | 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.
* Sample is the aggregation of two weeks’ polling data. Comments »
Approval of the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd
Q. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Kevin Rudd is doing as Prime Minister?
| 30 Mar 09 | 29 Jun 09 | 28 Sept 09 | 30 Nov 09 | 14 Dec 09 | 18 Jan 10 | 22 Feb 10 | 29 Mar 10 | 3 May 10 | 31 May 10 | |
| Strongly approve | 21% | 14% | 15% | 9% | 10% | 11% | 11% | 12% | 8% | 7% |
| Approve | 50% | 48% | 51% | 47% | 47% | 44% | 41% | 41% | 38% | 34% |
| Disapprove | 14% | 18% | 17% | 20% | 20% | 19% | 20% | 22% | 25% | 25% |
| Strongly disapprove | 7% | 9% | 6% | 15% | 12% | 14% | 17% | 14% | 17% | 22% |
| Don’t know | 9% | 11% | 11% | 10% | 10% | 12% | 11% | 12% | 12% | 12% |
| Total approve | 71% | 62% | 66% | 56% | 57% | 55% | 52% | 53% | 46% | 41% |
| Total disapprove | 21% | 29% | 23% | 35% | 32% | 33% | 37% | 36% | 42% | 47% |
Kevin Rudd’s net approval rating has fallen to a net negative for the first time since he became Prime Minister. 41% approve (down 5%) of the job Kevin Rudd is doing as Prime Minister and 47% disapprove (up 5%).
89% of Labor voters approve and 87% of Liberal/National voters disapprove. Greens voters are split 48% approve/45% disapprove.
Younger people are more likely to approve of Kevin Rudd’s performance than older people. Those aged under 35 were net positive (45% approve/33% disapprove) and those aged 55+ strongly negative (31% approve/64% disapprove). Comments »
Approval of the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott
Q. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?
| Malcolm Turnbull | Tony Abbott | |||||||||
| 30 Mar 09 | 29 Jun 09 | 28 Sept 09 | 30 Nov 09 | 14 Dec 09 | 18 Jan 10 | 22 Feb 10 | 29 Mar 10 | 3 May 10 | 31 May 10 | |
| Strongly approve | 3% | 4% | 3% | 2% | 7% | 5% | 12% | 8% | 5% | 5% |
| Approve | 25% | 20% | 24% | 23% | 27% | 32% | 33% | 25% | 34% | 30% |
| Disapprove | 31% | 31% | 35% | 33% | 18% | 20% | 20% | 28% | 24% | 28% |
| Strongly disapprove | 17% | 26% | 18% | 22% | 18% | 17% | 16% | 22% | 19% | 22% |
| Don’t know | 24% | 19% | 21% | 19% | 31% | 26% | 18% | 16% | 18% | 16% |
| Total approve | 28% | 24% | 27% | 25% | 34% | 37% | 45% | 33% | 39% | 35% |
| Total disapprove | 48% | 57% | 53% | 55% | 36% | 37% | 36% | 50% | 43% | 50% |
Tony Abbott’s approval rating has fallen back close to the level of the March poll – which was his lowest recorded. 35% approve (down 4%) of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader and 50% disapprove (up 7%).
72% of Liberal/National voters approve and 17% disapprove. 77% of Labor voters disapprove and 15% approve.
The only group showing net approval was people aged 65+ (52% approve/42% disapprove).
Likelihood of Liberal’s Re-introducing WorkChoices
Q. If they won the next election, how likely do you think it would be that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices?
| Total likely | 58% |
| Total unlikely | 21% |
| Very likely | 28% |
| Quite likely | 30% |
| Not very likely | 18% |
| Not at all likely | 3% |
| Don’t know | 20% |
58% believe it is likely that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices if they won the next election – 21% think it is unlikely.
83% of Labor voters and 42% of Liberal/National voters think it is likely – 44% of Liberal/National voters think it is unlikely.
64% of workers think it is likely and 17% unlikely. Comments »
Concern about Liberals Re-introducing WorkChoices
Q. If the Liberals won the election and reintroduced WorkChoices or similar laws, how concerned would you be?
| Very concerned | 28% |
| Quite concerned | 17% |
| A little concerned | 20% |
| Not concerned | 24% |
| Don’t know | 11% |
Overall, 45% were very or quite concerned about the reintroduction of WorkChoices or similar laws and 44% either a little or not concerned. 77% of Labor voters were concerned compared to 20% of Liberal/National voters. 50% of full-time workers were very/quite concerned and 39% a little or not concerned.
Q. The Opposition Leader Tony Abbot has indicated he would remove the unfair dismissal laws and he would re-institute AWA Individual contracts. How concerned are you about this?
| Very concerned | Quite concerned | A little concerned | Not concerned | Don’t know | |
| Removal of unfair dismissal rights | 36% | 17% | 20% | 16% | 11% |
| Re-institution of AWA individual contracts | 27% | 17% | 19% | 23% | 14% |
53% were very/quite concerned about the removal of unfair dismissal rights and 44% very/quite concerned about re-institution of individual contracts. 77% of Labor voters and 24% of Liberal/National voters were concerned about removal of unfair dismissal rights. 70% of Labor voters and 16% of Liberal/National voters were concerned about re-institution of individual contracts. There were no substantial differences across demographic groups. Comments »
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Download this week's ReportEssential Report
Two Party Preferred:
In this week's report:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Federal government response to Covid-19
- State government response to Covid-19
- Confidence in Labor government handling of Covid-19 pandemic
- Satisfaction with speed of Covid-19 vaccine rollout
- Party most responsible for slow vaccine rollout
Essential Tags
Recent Comments
