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Interests Represented by Parties

14 Nov 2011

Q. Which political party do you think best represents the interests of –

Labor Liberal Greens Don’t know Net (Labor-

Liberal

Net

May 11

Families with young children 42% 31% 5% 23% +11 +3
Students 36% 26% 12% 27% +10 +2
Working people on average incomes 44% 33% 5% 18% +11 +8
Working people on low incomes 50% 25% 6% 19% +25 +16
Working people on high incomes 13% 67% 2% 18% -54 -50
People on welfare 46% 20% 9% 26% +26 +15
Pensioners 39% 27% 7% 27% +12 +5
Small businesses and self-employed 22% 51% 3% 24% -29 -27
Big business 11% 68% 1% 19% -57 -49
The next generation of Australians 21% 32% 17% 30% -11 -12
Indigenous people 28% 17% 19% 36% +11 +2
Ethnic communities 27% 19% 15% 39% +8 +1
Rural and regional Australians 22% 35% 12% 31% -13 -16

The Labor Party is considered the party which best represents the interests of families with young children, students, working people on low and average incomes, people on welfare and pensioners. The Liberal Party is considered substantially better at representing the interests of people on high incomes, big business and small business and self-employed. The Greens’ main strengths are in representing the next generation, indigenous people and ethnic communities.

Since this question was last asked in May, the Labor Party has considerably improved its position on representing the interests of families with young children, students, people on low incomes and people on welfare. The perception that the Liberal Party best represents the interest of big business has increased.

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