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Effect of compulsory voting

2 May 2017

Q. If voting were voluntary, how likely would you be to vote in Federal and State elections?

  Total   Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Vote other   Aug ‘16
Total Likely 80%   83% 91% 85% 78%   72%
Total Unlikely 12%   12% 8% 6% 17%   19%
I would definitely vote 58%   61% 67% 66% 55%   48%
It is likely I would vote 22%   22% 24% 19% 23%   24%
It is unlikely I would vote 9%   8% 7% 5% 13%   13%
I would definitely not vote 3%   4% 1% 1% 4%   6%
Don’t know 7%   5% 2% 8% 6%   8%

 

80% said they would be likely to vote in a federal election, even if voting were voluntary (up 8% from August 2016), and 12% said they would be unlikely to vote if voting were voluntary (down 7%).

Those who said they were most likely to vote if voting were voluntary were Liberal/National voters (91% total likely) and those earning more than $104,000 per year (89%).

Those who said they were least likely to vote if voting were voluntary were than earning less than $31,200 per year (22% total unlikely) and those who did not complete year 12 (20%).

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