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Importance of Relationships with Other Countries

28 Mar 2011

Q. How important is it for Australia to have a close relationship with the following nations?

Very important Quite important Not very important Don’t know Very Important 15 Nov Change
New Zealand 69% 24% 4% 3% 54% +15
United States 60% 33% 5% 2% 56% +4
United Kingdom 56% 35% 6% 3% 44% +12
China 48% 42% 6% 4% 45% +3
Japan 39% 47% 9% 4% 30% +9
Indonesia 31% 43% 20% 6% 30% +1
India 26% 42% 26% 5% 24% +2
Germany 23% 42% 29% 6% 15% +8
South Africa 16% 36% 39% 8% 12% +4

More than half the respondents think it is very important to have close relationships with the New Zealand (69%), United States (60%) and the United Kingdom (56%) and just under half think it is very important to have a close relationship with China (48%).

A close relationship with the United States is considered very important by 70% of Liberal/National voters and 57% of Labor voters and 48% of Greens voters.

Since this question was asked in November, there have been substantial increases in the rating of the importance of relations with New Zealand (+15%), United Kingdom (+12%) and Japan (+9%).

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