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Foreign aid spending

2 Jun 2015

Q. And do you think Australia spends too much or too little on foreign aid?

Total

Vote Labor

Vote Lib/Nat

Vote Greens

Vote Other

Spend 1% or less

Spend about 2%

Spend 5% or more

Don’t know spend

Jul 2011

Spends too much

44%

45%

50%

12%

59%

26%

45%

66%

43%

42%

Spends too little

16%

22%

7%

46%

16%

39%

16%

9%

7%

16%

Spends about the right amount

21%

17%

30%

13%

12%

26%

31%

20%

14%

21%

Don’t know

19%

16%

13%

29%

12%

9%

9%

4%

36%

21%

44% (up 2% since 2011) think Australia spends too much on foreign aid, 21% (no change) about the right amount and 16% (no change) too little.

Opinions are strongly related to perceptions of how much is spent. Those who think Australia spends a higher percentage of the budget are much more likely to think the spend is too much. Those that most accurately estimate the actual spend (around 1% or less) were more likely to think the spend was too little (39%).

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