Interests Represented by Parties

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.