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Preferred voting system

14 Jan 2013

Q. Which of the following voting systems would you prefer when voting for the Federal House of Representatives.

  • A preferential voting system where voters rank all candidates in order of preference.
  • An optional preferential system where voters can rank one, some, or all candidates in order of preference.
  • A “first past the post” system, where voters only vote for one candidate and the candidate with the most votes wins.
 

11 Jul 11

Total

14 Jan 13

Vote Labor

Vote Lib/Nat

Vote Greens

Preferential

22%

23%

29%

20%

32%

Optional preferential

26%

25%

26%

23%

43%

First past the post

44%

44%

40%

52%

24%

Don’t know

7%

8%

5%

5%

1%

Of the three voting options given, 44% favoured “first past the post”, 25% optional preferential and 23% the current preferential system – almost no change since the question was last asked in July 2011.

Optional preferential was most preferred by those aged under 35 (30%) while older groups strongly favoured first past the post (52% of aged 45+).

“First past the post” was preferred by 52% Liberal/National voters and 43% of Greens voters preferred optional preferential.

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