Q. Do you think the Federal Labor Government is too tough or too soft on asylum seekers or is it taking the right approach?
| % | |
| Too tough | 6% |
| Too soft | 65% |
| Taking the right approach | 18% |
| Don’t know | 11% |
Most people (65%) think the Federal Labor Government is too soft on asylum seekers, 18% think the Government is taking the right approach, 6% think they are too tough and 11% don’t know.
Labor voters were more likely to think the Government is taking the right approach (31%), Coalition voters were more likely to think the Government is being too soft (90%) and Green voters were more likely to think the approach is too tough (24%).
56% of Labor voters and 25% of Green voters think the Government is being too soft on asylum seekers.
18 – 24 year olds were more likely to think the Government is taking the right approach (29%), while people aged 55 years and over were more likely to think the Government is too soft on asylum seekers (76%).
Males were more likely than females to think the Government is being too soft (69% v 62%).
When we asked a similar question in April last year, we found that 55% thought the Government was being too soft on asylum seekers, 26% thought the Government’s approach was about right and 4% thought the Government was too tough.