Climate Change and Voting
Q. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement:
“Climate change policy is one of the most important issues in determining my vote at Federal elections”
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Total agree | 40% | 51% | 31% | 77% | 24% | |
| Total disagree | 30% | 24% | 37% | 6% | 51% | |
| Strongly agree | 16% | 19% | 8% | 46% | 12% | |
| Agree | 24% | 32% | 23% | 31% | 12% | |
| Neither agree not disagree | 24% | 22% | 27% | 16% | 21% | |
| Disagree | 14% | 13% | 19% | 4% | 16% | |
| Strongly disagree | 16% | 11% | 18% | 2% | 35% | |
| Don’t know | 7% | 3% | 5% | 1% | 3% |
40% agreed that climate change policy is one of the most important issues for them when determining their vote at a federal election, and 30% disagreed.
The statement was agreed with by a majority of Greens voters (77% agree) and Labor voters (51% agree).
More Liberal/National voters disagreed with the statement than agreed with it (31% agree, 37% disagree), and a majority of independent and other party voters disagreed (51% disagree).
Outside of voting intention, those most likely to agree with the statement were those with a University degree (50% agree), those aged 18-29 (49%) and Victorians (47%). Those most likely to disagree with the statement were those aged 65+ (42% disagree) and Western Australians (40%).
Climate change
Q. Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Nov 2009 | Dec 2010 | Jun 2011 | Oct 2012 | Oct 2013 | Dec 2014 | Nov 2015 | Aug 2016 | Dec 2016 | |||
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 60% | 75% | 49% | 90% | 44% | 53% | 45% | 50% | 48% | 52% | 57% | 56% | 57% | 54% | ||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 25% | 14% | 37% | 3% | 41% | 34% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 29% | 32% | 26% | 27% | ||
| Don’t know | 14% | 10% | 13% | 7% | 15% | 13% | 19% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 12% | 17% | 18% |
60% (up 6% since December) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 25% (down 2%) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 70%/15% and those aged 55+ split 47%/40%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 72%/19%.
Climate change
Q. Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Nov 2009 | Dec 2010 | Jun 2011 | Oct 2012 | Oct 2013 | Dec 2014 | Nov 2015 | Aug 2016 | |||
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 54% | 70% | 39% | 82% | 47% | 53% | 45% | 50% | 48% | 52% | 57% | 56% | 57% | ||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 27% | 18% | 40% | 7% | 40% | 34% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 29% | 32% | 26% | ||
| Don’t know | 18% | 12% | 20% | 12% | 13% | 13% | 19% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 12% | 17% |
54% (down 3% since August) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 27% (up 1%) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 60%/19% and those aged 55+ split 47%/42%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 61%/22%.
Doing enough to address climate change
Q. As far as you know, do you think Australia is doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Climate change is happening | Aug 2015 | Mar 2016 | Aug 2016 | ||||
| Doing enough | 22% | 16% | 35% | 4% | 26% | 15% | 24% | 21% | 22% | |||
| Not doing enough | 49% | 62% | 30% | 88% | 45% | 76% | 53% | 57% | 52% | |||
| Doing too much | 11% | 8% | 16% | 2% | 17% | 2% | 7% | 8% | 8% | |||
| Don’t know | 18% | 14% | 19% | 6% | 12% | 7% | 16% | 13% | 18% |
49% (down 3% since August) think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change and 22% (no change) think Australia is doing enough.
Those most likely to think Australia is not doing enough were aged 18-34 (54%) and university educated (54%).
Of those who believe climate change is happening, 76% think Australia is not doing enough.
Climate change
Q. Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Nov 2009 | Dec 2010 | Jun 2011 | Oct 2012 | Oct 2013 | Dec 2014 | Nov 2015 | Mar 2016 | Jun 2016 | |||
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 57% | 71% | 44% | 90% | 45% | 53% | 45% | 50% | 48% | 52% | 57% | 56% | 63% | 59% | ||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 26% | 16% | 38% | 5% | 36% | 34% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 29% | 32% | 27% | 28% | ||
| Don’t know | 17% | 13% | 17% | 5% | 19% | 13% | 19% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 12% | 10% | 13% |
57% (down 2% since June) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 26% (down 2%) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 70%/13% and those aged 55+ split 45%/40%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 64%/21%.
Doing enough to address climate change
Q. As far as you know, do you think Australia is doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Climate change is happening | Aug 2015 | Mar 2016 | ||||
| Doing enough | 22% | 15% | 36% | 5% | 23% | 11% | 24% | 21% | |||
| Not doing enough | 52% | 66% | 36% | 92% | 46% | 76% | 53% | 57% | |||
| Doing too much | 8% | 3% | 12% | 3% | 13% | 2% | 7% | 8% | |||
| Don’t know | 18% | 15% | 17% | 1% | 17% | 10% | 16% | 13% |
52% (down 5% since March) think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change and 22% (up 1%) think Australia is doing enough.
Those most likely to think Australia is not doing enough were aged 18-34 (65%) and university educated (57%).
Of those who believe climate change is happening, 76% think Australia is not doing enough.
Climate change
Q. Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Nov 2009 | Dec 2010 | Jun 2011 | Oct 2012 | Oct 2013 | Dec 2014 | Nov 2015 | Mar 2016 | |||
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 59% | 69% | 45% | 91% | 57% | 53% | 45% | 50% | 48% | 52% | 57% | 56% | 63% | ||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 28% | 18% | 42% | 6% | 35% | 34% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 29% | 32% | 27% | ||
| Don’t know | 13% | 13% | 12% | 3% | 9% | 13% | 19% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 12% | 10% |
59% (down 4% since March) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 28% (up 1%) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 65%/19% and those aged 55+ split 48%/40%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 64%/23%.
Action on climate change
Q. Which of the following actions on climate change would you most support?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Sep 2014 | Jul 2015 | Sep 2015 | |||
| Incentives for renewable energy | 49% | 50% | 48% | 58% | 54% | 50% | 45% | 45% | ||
| An emissions trading scheme | 13% | 15% | 11% | 24% | 9% | 12% | 14% | 11% | ||
| The Government’s direct action policy | 10% | 10% | 12% | 11% | 9% | 10% | 10% | 10% | ||
| No action required | 12% | 7% | 15% | – | 19% | 11% | 11% | 12% | ||
| Don’t know | 17% | 17% | 13% | 7% | 9% | 17% | 20% | 22% |
In taking action on climate change, 49% most support incentives for renewable energy, 13% most support an emissions trading scheme and 10% most support the Government‘s direct action policy – while 12% say no action is required. This represents little change since this question was asked in September.
All groups are most likely to support incentives for renewable energy.
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