Essential Report
Decision on same sex marriage
Q. Do you think the issue of same sex marriage should be decided by Parliament or should there be a national vote?
Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Sep 2015 | Mar 2016 | Jul 2016 | Aug 2016 | Vote “Yes” | Vote “No” | ||
Should be decided by Parliament | 27% | 33% | 27% | 36% | 24% | 21% | 23% | 25% | 25% | 31% | 22% | |
Should have a national vote | 61% | 57% | 67% | 45% | 67% | 67% | 66% | 60% | 59% | 62% | 68% | |
Don’t know | 12% | 10% | 6% | 19% | 10% | 12% | 11% | 15% | 16% | 7% | 10% |
61% thought that same sex marriage should be decided by a national vote, up 2% since August 2016, and 27% thought it should be decided by parliament, up 2% since August 2016.
62% of those who supported same sex marriage would prefer a national vote, as would 68% percent of those who did not support same sex marriage.
Men were more likely to prefer a vote in parliament (32% prefer) than women (21%).

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