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Social Class Identification

29 Nov 2016

Q. Do you consider yourself –

  Total   Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Vote other   Income under $1,000pw Income $1,000 – $1,500pw Income $1,500 – $2,000pw Income $2,000+   Aug 2014 May 2016
Working class 31%   34% 24% 32% 40%   40% 41% 32% 19%   31% 34%
Middle class 51%   51% 60% 52% 34%   35% 48% 57% 68%   49% 48%
Upper class 3%   1% 5% 5% 2%   2% 2% 2% 5%   2% 2%
None of them 9%   10% 7% 8% 12%   18% 6% 3% 4%   13% 10%
Don’t know 6%   4% 4% 4% 2%   5% 4% 6% 3%   6% 5%

51% of respondents described themselves as “middle class” and 31% as “working class” – only 3% claimed to be “upper class”.

Those on higher incomes were more likely to identify as “middle class” while those on lower incomes were more likely to identify as “working class”.

The results are not substantially different from those when this question was asked in 2014 and earlier in 2016.

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