Essential Report
Economy: Direct investment vs trickle-down approach
Q. And which of the following is closest to your view on the best way to create jobs and grow the economy?
May’21 | Oct’20 | |
The government should directly invest in the economy by creating projects and jobs, and raise the standard of living for the majority of workers | 66% | 69% |
The government should relax regulation and lower taxes for the wealthy to encourage businesses to grow and create jobs | 17% | 19% |
Unsure | 17% | 13% |
Base (n) | 1,092 | 1,066 |
- Most Australians’ want the government to directly invest in the economy by creating projects and jobs, and raise the standard of living for the majority of workers (66%), rather than relax regulation and lower taxes for the wealthy to encourage businesses to grow and create jobs (17%) to create jobs and grow the economy. This is consistent with levels last October (69% and 19% respectively).
- Slightly more people are now unsure which the best approach is (17% from 13% in October).
Total | Federal Voting Intention | |||||||||
Labor | Coalition | Greens | TOTAL: Other | TOTAL:
Labor, Greens, Other |
||||||
The government should directly invest in the economy by creating projects and jobs, and raise the standard of living for the majority of workers | 66% | 74% | 64% | 75% | 69% | 73% | ||||
The government should relax regulation and lower taxes for the wealthy to encourage businesses to grow and create jobs | 17% | 13% | 23% | 15% | 17% | 14% | ||||
Unsure | 17% | 13% | 13% | 10% | 14% | 12% | ||||
Base (n) | 1,092 | 371 | 400 | 109 | 111 | 591 | ||||
- The majority of voters of all major parties want the government to directly invest in the economy by creating projects and jobs, and raise the standard of living for the majority of workers.

COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Essential Report
In this week's report:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Views towards re-electing the federal Coalition government
- Party trust to handle issues
- Importance of Australia’s international reputation
- Scott Morrison’s impact on Australia’s international reputation
- Views towards Australia’s international reputation
Sign up for updates
Receive the Essential Report in your inbox.Essential Tags
2PP
Abbott
ALP
Anthony Albanese
Approval of opposition leader
Approval of Tony Abbott
asylum seekers
Australian economy
Bill Shorten
Carbon Tax
climate change
coronavirus
covid-19
economy
Education
Election
EMC
environment
ER
Essential Media
Essential Report
Federal Budget
Federal Government
federal politics
Gillard
Greens
Julia Gillard
kevin rudd
Labor
Labor Party
Liberal
Liberal Party
Liberals
mining
Nationals
Opposition leader
peter lewis
Polling
polls
Prime Minister
Scott Morrison
tony abbott
two party preferred
voting
Voting intention
Recent Comments
