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  • Oct, 2013

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    Federal politics – voting intention

    Q. If a Federal Election was held today to which party will you probably give your first preference vote? If not sure, which party are you currently leaning toward?

    Q. If don’t know -Well which party are you currently leaning to?

    Sample size = 1,908 respondents

    First preference/leaning to

    Election

    7 Sep 13

    (current  figures)

     

    4 weeks ago

    2/9/13

    2 weeks ago

    16/9/13

    Last week

    24/9/13

    This week

    1/10/13

    Liberal

     

    41%

    42%

    41%

    40%

    National

    3%

    3%

    2%

    3%

    Total Lib/Nat

    45.5%

    44%

    44%

    43%

    43%

    Labor

    33.4%

    35%

    36%

    37%

    36%

    Greens

    8.7%

    11%

    9%

    9%

    9%

    Other/Independent

    12.4%

    10%

    11%

    11%

    12%

     

    2 Party Preferred

    Election

    7 Sep 13

     

    4 weeks ago

    2/9/13

    2 weeks ago

    16/9/13

    Last week

    24/9/13

    This week

    1/10/13

    Liberal National

    53.4%

    52%

    53%

    51%

    52%

    Labor

    46.6%

    48%

    47%

    49%

    48%

    NB.  The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived from the first preference/leaning to voting questions.  Respondents who select ‘don’t know’ are not included in the results.  The two-party preferred estimate is calculated by distributing the votes of the other parties according to their preferences at the 2010 election.

  • Oct, 2013

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    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?

     

    Nov 09

    Dec 10

    30 May 11

    14 Jun

    15 Oct 12

     29 Jan 13

    27 May

     

    Total

    1 Oct

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity

    53%

    45%

    52%

    50%

    48%

    51%

    51%

    52%

    67%

    36%

    82%

    We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate

    34%

    36%

    36%

    39%

    39%

    40%

    35%

    36%

    22%

    51%

    10%

    Don’t know

    13%

    19%

    12%

    12%

    13%

    9%

    14%

    12%

    10%

    12%

    8%

    52% agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 36% believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate. This is a similar result to when this question was previously asked in May.

    By age groups, those aged under 35 split 61%/25% and those aged 55+ split 42%/48%. 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%/27%.

  • Oct, 2013

    , ,

    Carbon pricing

    Q. Do you support or oppose the previous Labor Government’s carbon pricing scheme which was introduced in July 2012 and requires industries to pay a tax based on the amount of carbon pollution they emit?

     

    7 Mar 2011

    14 June

    19 Sep

    21 Nov

    25 Jun 2012

    2 Oct

    29 Jan 2013

    27 May

     

    Total

    1 Oct

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total support

    35%

    38%

    37%

    38%

    35%

    38%

    37%

    43%

    39%

    65%

    14%

    86%

    Total oppose

    48%

    49%

    52%

    53%

    54%

    48%

    50%

    43%

    47%

    21%

    76%

    9%

    Strongly support

    9%

    13%

    14%

    14%

    14%

    12%

    11%

    15%

    15%

    28%

    2%

    47%

    Support

    26%

    25%

    23%

    24%

    21%

    26%

    26%

    28%

    24%

    37%

    12%

    39%

    Oppose

    19%

    19%

    17%

    17%

    19%

    22%

    22%

    20%

    23%

    14%

    35%

    7%

    Strongly oppose

    29%

    30%

    35%

    36%

    35%

    26%

    28%

    23%

    24%

    7%

    41%

    2%

    Don’t know

    18%

    13%

    12%

    10%

    11%

    14%

    12%

    13%

    15%

    15%

    10%

    4%

    Support for carbon pricing has dropped since the last time the question was polled in May. Support is down four points to 39% and opposition up four points to 47%.

    Looking at the results by voting intention, Labor voters (65%) and Greens voters (86%) were the most likely to support carbon pricing, whereas 76% of Coalition voters oppose it.

    Younger respondents were more likely to support carbon pricing than older respondents – for those aged under 35, 47% support and 34% oppose while 64% of those aged 55+ oppose and 29% support.

  • Oct, 2013

    , ,

    Climate change policies

    Q. The new Liberal Government plans to dump the carbon tax and replace it with what they call a “direct action” plan which involves planting trees and paying companies to reduce their carbon pollution. Which approach to climate change would you favour?

     

    27 May 13

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    The current tax on the largest polluting companies to encourage them to reduce carbon pollution

    39%

    31%

    57%

    9%

    62%

    The Liberal’s policy to plant trees and pay companies to reduce carbon pollution

    29%

    35%

    13%

    57%

    9%

    Neither

    18%

    16%

    14%

    18%

    6%

    Don’t know

    14%

    17%

    16%

    16%

    22%

    31% favour the previous Government’s policy on addressing climate change and 35% favour the Liberal Government’s “direct action” plan. 16% do not support either approach. This is a significant shift in favour of the Liberal’s plan.

    The previous Government’s approach had strongest support from Labor voters (57%), Greens voters (62%) and people with university degrees (37%).

    The Liberal Government’s plan had strongest support from Liberal/National voters (57%) and people aged 55+ (44%).

  • Oct, 2013

    , ,

    Manufacturing industry

    Q. Thinking about the Australian manufacturing industry, which of the following statements is closest to your view?

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

     

    Aug 2012

    Jun 2013

    With Government support, Australia can have a successful manufacturing industry

    65%

    70%

    64%

    60%

    63%

    61%

    There is no future for manufacturing in Australia and Government support would be a waste of money

    19%

    17%

    23%

    17%

    17%

    22%

    Don’t know

    16%

    13%

    14%

    23%

    21%

    17%

    65% agree that “With Government support, Australia can have a successful manufacturing industry” and 19% agree “There is no future for manufacturing in Australia and Government support would be a waste of money”. Those who think that “Australia can have a successful manufacturing industry” has increased 4% and those thinking “There is no future for manufacturing in Australia” has dropped 3% since this question was last asked in June.

    Those most likely to agree that “Australia can have a successful manufacturing industry” were aged 45+ (69%), Labor voters (70%) and people on income of less than $1,000pw (75%).

    Those most likely to agree that “There is no future for manufacturing in Australia” were men (25%), Liberal/National voters (23%) and people on incomes over $1,600pw (28%).

  • Oct, 2013

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    Importance of car manufacturing

    Q. How important is it that Australia has a car manufacturing industry, even if it costs hundreds of millions of dollars each year in Government support and subsidies?

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

     

    Jun 2013

    Total important

    58%

    63%

    59%

    45%

    52%

    Total not important

    30%

    26%

    33%

    33%

    35%

    Very important

    24%

    31%

    22%

    12%

    19%

    Somewhat important

    34%

    32%

    37%

    33%

    33%

    Not very important

    18%

    16%

    19%

    21%

    24%

    Not at all important

    12%

    10%

    14%

    11%

    11%

    Don’t know

    12%

    12%

    8%

    24%

    12%

    58% think that it is very or somewhat important that Australia has a car manufacturing industry, even if it costs hundreds of millions of dollars each year in Government support and subsidies. 30% think it is not very or not at all important. This represents a significant increase in “importance” since this question was previously asked in June.

    Those most likely to think it was important were Labor voters (63%) and people on incomes under $1,000pw (65%).

    33% of Liberal/National voters, 33% of Greens voters and 38% of people with university degrees thought it not important.

  • Oct, 2013

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    Information about asylum seeker boat arrivals

    Q. Under previous Governments the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service has issued statements whenever an asylum-seeker boat arrived. Do you approve or disapprove of the Abbott Government’s decision to stop providing this information about the arrival of asylum-seeker boats?

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total approve

    39%

    16%

    67%

    13%

    Total disapprove

    48%

    75%

    21%

    74%

    Strongly approve

    16%

    5%

    31%

    7%

    Approve

    23%

    11%

    36%

    6%

    Disapprove

    16%

    20%

    15%

    13%

    Strongly disapprove

    32%

    55%

    6%

    61%

    Don’t know

    13%

    9%

    12%

    12%

    39% approve of the Abbott Government’s decision to stop providing information about the arrival of asylum-seeker boats and 48% disapprove.

    Views are strongly associated with political party preference – 75% of Labor voters and 74% of Greens voters disapprove while 67% of Liberal/National voters approve.

  • Oct, 2013

    , , ,

    Australian Building and Construction Commission

    Q. The Abbott Government has committed to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission to address claims of union militancy in the construction industry. The ABCC’s powers included preventing any person from revealing they had been forced to give testimony to the Commission, and overriding a person’s right to silence.

    Do you support or oppose re-establishing the ABCC?

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total support

    29%

    13%

    52%

    12%

    Total oppose

    22%

    39%

    5%

    46%

    Strongly support

    12%

    4%

    25%

    4%

    Support

    17%

    9%

    27%

    8%

    Neither support nor oppose

    23%

    22%

    22%

    16%

    Oppose

    9%

    13%

    3%

    21%

    Strongly oppose

    13%

    26%

    2%

    25%

    Don’t know

    25%

    27%

    21%

    25%

    29% support re-establishing the ABCC and 22% oppose. 48% have no opinion either way.

    35% of men support compared to 23% of women.

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