Spending surplus to delay economic slowdown

Q. Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasted that Australia’s national growth rate in 2019 will be 1.7%, lower than the 2.1% estimated earlier in the year.

Some people believe that this economic slowdown could be avoided by spending some of the federal surplus on infrastructure projects. Others think that the surplus shouldn’t be spent at all.

Which of the below is closest to your view?

•  Majority of participants (56%) think that the Government should stimulate the economy to help prevent a downturn and delay the surplus, while a third (33%) think the Government should maintain the surplus at all costs.
• Those over 55 years old (64%), intending to vote Labor (66%) or Greens (62%) are more likely to say the Government should stimulate the economy than 18-34 year olds (49%) and Coalition voters (43%).
• Participants with dependent children are more likely to say the government should maintain the surplus (40%) than those without dependent children (30%).

Main cause of the IMF downgrade

Q. What do you think is the main cause of the IMF downgrade of the national economic outlook?

• Global factors outside the federal government’s control are seen to be the main cause for the IMF downgrading Australia’s economic outlook (42%), while another 10% of participants believe the cause to be local factors outside the federal government’s control. The federal government’s economic management is seen to be the cause of the downgrade by 29%.
• Labour voters tend to blame the federal government’s economic management (41%, compared to 14% of Coalition voters). Most Coalition voters blamed global factors (59%) as the cause of the downgrade.

Awareness of and support for Extinction Rebellion

Q. Before today, had you heard of Extinction Rebellion? / To what extent do you support or oppose the Extinction Rebellion protests to push for governments to act on climate change and move towards renewable energy?

•  42% of participants have heard of Extinction Rebellion and this is highest among Queenslanders (51%).
• 52% of those who are aware of Extinction Rebellion support their protests to push for governments to act on climate change and move towards renewable energy.
• Labor (68%) and Greens (96%) voters who are aware of Extinction Rebellion, are more likely than Coalition (27%) voters to support their protests.
• 18-34 year olds who are aware of Extinction Rebellion, are more likely to support their goals (71%) than those aged over 55 (38%).
• Queensland residents aware of the Extinction Rebellion are more likely to oppose the protests (58%) than any other state or territory (41%).

Performance of Scott Morrison

Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Scott Morrison is doing as Prime Minister?

• There is little change to the approval rating of the Prime Minister this month, with the 47% of participants approving of the job he’s doing is on par with previous months to June 2019 (49% in Oct’19 and 48% in June and July).
• The vast majority of Coalition voters approve of Morrison’s performance as PM, with 84% approval, compared to just 10% of Coalition voters who disapprove.
• Males (53%), capital city residents (50%) and participants with a university education (52%) were also more likely to view the PM’s performance positively – than females (40%), non-capital residents (40%) and those with lower levels of education (43%).

Performance of Anthony Albanese

Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Anthony Albanese is doing as Opposition Leader?

• Anthony Albanese has 40% approval as Opposition Leader, but just under one third (31%) don’t know how to rate his performance. More respondents are able to provide a rating on Albanese’s performance now, than when he first took over the position in June, when 29% recorded a response of don’t know .
• Approval with Albanese’s performance is driven by high-income earners (48%), participants with a university education (47%) and males (44%).

Preferred Prime Minister

Q. Who do you think would makes the better Prime Minister out of Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese?

• More than two-fifths of participants think that Scott Morrison makes the better PM (43%), which is on par with previous months from June 2019 (from 46% to 43%)
• 29% don’t know who would make the better PM between Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese.

Performance of Coalition since May’19 election

Q. In the six months since winning the election, how would you rate the performance of the Coalition Government as a whole?

• Although just 7% rated the performance of the Coalition as ‘Excellent’ in the 6 months since the election victory, 26% rated it ‘Good’ and a further 30% as ‘Fair’.
• Men (10% to 4% of women) and Coalition voters (14% to 3% or all other voters) were more likely to rate the Coalition Government’s performance as ‘Excellent’.

Performance of Labor since May’19 election

Q. In the six months since winning the election, how would you rate the performance of the Labor opposition in the six months since the election?

• Ratings for the performance of the Labor Opposition were broadly in line with the Government, with just 5% rating it as excellent and most rating it as ‘Fair’ (38%).
• Those aged 18-34 were most likely to rate the performance of Labor as ‘Excellent’ (9% to 3% of over 35 year olds).