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Federal government surplus

2 Oct 2012

Q. Thinking about the federal government budget, how important do you believe it is for the budget to be in surplus…?

 

Total important

Total not important

Very important

Quite Important

Not very important

Not at all important

Don’t know

…for the country as a whole

68%

22%

26%

42%

18%

4%

10%

…for you personally

46%

42%

15%

31%

31%

11%

11%

A clear majority of respondents (68%) regard having a federal government budget surplus to be important for the country as a whole, whereas a significantly smaller portion regard to be important for them personally (46%).

Forty two per cent (42%) of respondents believe having a federal government budget surplus was not important for them personally.

Vote Labor

Vote Lib/Nat

Vote Greens

Total important

Total not important

Total important

Total not important

Total important

Total not important

…for the country as a whole

59%

31%

78%

16%

58%

34%

…for you personally

39%

49%

59%

32%

28%

65%

Looking at the results by voting intention, Coalition voters were the most likely to regard a federal budget surplus to be important for the country as a whole (78%) as well as for them personally (59%).

Greens voters were the most likely to regard it as not important for them personally (65%).

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