2PP, Election, Family First, Greens, Labor, Liberal, 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?
*1943 sample size
| 2 week average | % | 2PP | 2PP shift from last week |
| Liberal | 37% | ||
| National | 3% | ||
| Total Lib/Nat | 40% | 46% | – |
| Labor | 41% | 54% | – |
| Greens | 11% | ||
| Family First | 2% | ||
| Other/Independent | 6% |
NB. The data in the above table is derived from our weekly first preference voting question. Respondents who select ‘don’t know’ as their first preference are not included in the results.
* Sample is the culmination of two week’s polling data. Comments »
International Relations, Labor, rudd
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Kevin Rudd is handling Australia’s relations with other nations?
| April 2009 | April 2010 | |
| Total approve | 67% | 50% |
| Total disapprove | 19% | 32% |
| Strongly approve | 17% | 10% |
| Approve | 50% | 40% |
| Disapprove | 13% | 22% |
| Strongly disapprove | 6% | 10% |
| Don’t know | 13% | 17% |
Half (50%) of those surveyed approve of the way Kevin Rudd is handling Australia’s relations with other nations, 32% disapprove and 17% don’t know.
Results followed party lines – Labor voters were more likely to approve (87%), while Coalition voters were more likely to disapprove (66%). 61% of Green voters approve of the way Kevin Rudd is handling Australia’s relations with other nations.
Males were more likely than females to approve (55% v 45%). Females were more likely to indicate they don’t know (22%).
People aged 55 years and over were more likely to disapprove of the way Kevin Rudd is handling Australia’s relations with other nations (45%).
Since we asked this question a year ago, the number of people that approve of the way Kevin Rudd is handling Australia’s relations with other nations has dropped seventeen percent and the number that disapprove has increased by thirteen percent. Comments »
Abbott, International Relations, Labor, Liberal, rudd
Q. Who would you trust more to handle Australia’s relations with other nations?
| % | |
| Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party | 41% |
| Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party | 27% |
| No difference | 22% |
| Don’t know | 10% |
41% trust Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party when it comes to handling Australia’s relations with other nations, 27% prefer Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party, 22% think there is no difference and 10% don’t know.
Results followed party lines – Labor voters were more likely to trust Kevin Rudd and Labor (85%) while Coalition voters were more likely to trust Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party (66%). Green voters were more likely to trust Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party (58%).
People aged 55 years and over were more likely to trust Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party (37%), while those aged 45 – 54 were more likely to trust Kevin Rudd and Labor (50%) when it comes to handling Australia’s relations with other nations. Comments »
China, Germany, India, Indonesia, International Relations, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States
Q. How important is it for Australia to have a close relationship with the following nations?
| Very important | Quite important | Not very important | Don’t know | |
| United States | 59% | 33% | 4% | 4% |
| New Zealand | 56% | 34% | 6% | 5% |
| China | 51% | 36% | 7% | 5% |
| United Kingdom | 46% | 41% | 9% | 5% |
| Indonesia | 40% | 40% | 13% | 7% |
| Japan | 39% | 48% | 8% | 5% |
| India | 27% | 44% | 21% | 7% |
| Germany | 18% | 44% | 29% | 8% |
| South Africa | 12% | 41% | 39% | 8% |
Over half think that it is very important for Australia to have a close relationship with the United States (59%), New Zealand (56%) and China (51%).
Labor voters were more likely to think a close relationship with China is very important (56%) while Green voters were more likely to think it is not very important (15%).
Labor voters were more likely to think relations with Indonesia are very important (48%) and relations with India are quite important (51%).
Coalition voters were more likely to think Australia’s relations with India are not very important (26%). However, these voters were more likely to think Australia’s relations with the United Kingdom (52%) and the United States (68%) are very important. Comments »
China, Germany, India, Indonesia, International Relations, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States
Q. Would you like to see Australia’s relationship with these countries get closer, stay the same or become less close?
| Get closer | Stay the same | Become less close | Don’t know | |
| China | 33% | 45% | 13% | 9% |
| New Zealand | 33% | 56% | 2% | 8% |
| Indonesia | 30% | 48% | 12% | 10% |
| United States | 24% | 59% | 9% | 8% |
| United Kingdom | 24% | 62% | 5% | 8% |
| India | 24% | 50% | 16% | 10% |
| Japan | 24% | 59% | 8% | 10% |
| Germany | 16% | 65% | 7% | 12% |
| South Africa | 13% | 63% | 12% | 12% |
When it comes to Australia’s relationship getting closer with various countries, 33% think Australia’s relations with China should get closer, 45% think our relations with China should stay the same and 13% think they should become less close.
33% support a closer relationship with New Zealand and 30% support a closer relationship with Indonesia. The country that scores the highest in terms of one which Australia should become less close with is India (16%).
Labor (36%) voters were more likely to think that Australia’s relations with China should become closer, while Coalition (17%) and Greens (23%) voters were more likely to think it should be less close.
Labor voters were more likely to think Australia’s relations with India should stay the same (55%), while Coalition voters were more likely to think they should become less close (20%). Comments »
Q. Thinking about the Government budget set to be announced soon, which of the following is the most important thing the Government needs to do?
| May 2009 | April 2010 | Shift | |
| Cut spending so we don’t go further into debt | 24% | 32% | +8% |
| Assist those on low incomes by increasing payments to pensioners and the unemployed | 26% | 24% | -2% |
| Stimulate the economy by cutting income taxes | 25% | 20% | -5% |
| Increase Government spending to further stimulate economic growth | * | 9% | * |
| Stimulate the economy by giving assistance to businesses | 15% | 5% | -10% |
| Don’t know | 10% | 10% | – |
*Not asked in 2009 survey.
32% of people think that the most important thing that the Government needs to do in the upcoming budget is cut spending so we don’t go further into debt, 24% think increasing payments to pensioners and the unemployed is the most important thing the Government needs to do and 20% think the budget should include stimulating the economy by cutting income taxes.
Coalition voters were more likely to think the most important thing that should be included in the upcoming budget are cuts to spending so we don’t go further into debt (51%). Labor (33%) and Green (34%) voters were more likely to think that assisting those on low incomes by increasing payments to pensioners and unemployed is the most important thing the Government needs to do in the upcoming budget.
People aged 65 years and over were more likely to think that the most important thing the Government needs to do in the upcoming budget is assist those on low incomes by increasing payments to pensioners and the unemployed (40%). People aged 25 – 34 were more likely to think the most important budget measure should be cutting income taxes (33%).
People earning $600 – $1000 were more likely to support increased payments to pensioners (41%) while those on $1600+ were more likely to prefer cuts to income tax (26%).
The most significant shift since the 2009 survey is in terms of stimulating the economy by assisting business (-10%) and cut spending so we don’t go further into debt (+8%). Comments »
Q. If you had to choose, which of the following budget measures would you support?
| % | |
| Increase taxes for people on high incomes | 41% |
| Increase taxes on businesses | 8% |
| Cut Government spending | 41% |
| Don’t know | 10% |
41% support increased taxes for people on high incomes, a further 41% support cuts to Government spending, 8% support increased taxes on business and 10% don’t know which budget measure they support.
Labor voters were more likely to support increased taxes for people on high incomes (62%), Coalition voters were more likely to support cuts to Government spending (65%) and Green voters were more likely to support increased taxes on business (15%).
People earning $600 – $1000 per week were more likely to prefer increased taxes for people on high incomes (53%), while people earning $1600 per week or more were more likely to prefer cuts to Government spending (45%). Comments »
Q. If cost savings need to be made in the budget, in which area should spending cuts be made?
| % | |
| Defence and national security | 20% |
| Social security and welfare | 15% |
| Industry and employment | 7% |
| Community services | 6% |
| Infrastructure, transport and energy | 4% |
| Health | 3% |
| Education | 2% |
| None of these | 32% |
| Don’t know | 11% |
20% of people think that if savings need to be made in the budget, cuts should be made to defence and national security, 15% think cuts should be made to social security and welfare and 7% think that cuts should be made to industry and employment. There is little support for cuts to health (3%) or education (2%). 32% think that cuts should be made to none of the areas listed.
Green (38%) and Labor (25%) voters were more likely to support cuts to defence and national security. Coalition voters were more likely to support cuts to social security and welfare (20%) and community services (9%).
People aged 18 – 24 (28%) year olds and 25 – 34 (26%) were more likely to support cuts to defence and national security. Comments »