The Essential Report Archive Read the latest report

  • Apr, 2013

    , , , ,

    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 = 1,818 respondents

    First preference/leaning to

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    4/3/13

    2 weeks ago

    18/2/13

    Last week

    25/3/13

    This week

    2/4/13

    Liberal

    46%

    45%

    45%

    47%

    National

    3%

    2%

    2%

    2%

    Total Lib/Nat

    43.6%

    49%

    47%

    47%

    49%

    Labor

    38.0%

    32%

    35%

    33%

    31%

    Greens

    11.8%

    10%

    9%

    11%

    11%

    Other/Independent

    6.6%

    8%

    8%

    9%

    9%

     

    2PP

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    2 weeks ago

    Last week

     

    This week

    Total Lib/Nat

    49.9%

    56%

    54%

    54%

    56%

    Labor

    50.1%

    44%

    46%

    46%

    44%

    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. These estimates have a confidence interval of approx. plus or minus 2-3%.

  • Apr, 2013

    , ,

    Attributes of the Labor Party

    Q. Here is a list of things both favourable and unfavourable that have been said about various political parties. Which statements do you feel fit the Labor Party?

     

    6 Jul 09

    14 Mar 10

     

    27 April 11

     

    28 May 12

    2 Apr 13

    % change

    Divided

    30%

    36%

    66%

    73%

    82%

    +9%

    Will promise to do anything to win votes

    57%

    63%

    72%

    70%

    71%

    +1%

    Out of touch with ordinary people

    44%

    48%

    61%

    58%

    63%

    +5%

    Moderate

    65%

    63%

    51%

    50%

    47%

    -3%

    Looks after the interests of working people

    39%

    47%

    42%

    -5%

    Have a vision for the future

    43%

    41%

    42%

    +1%

    Understands the problems facing Australia

    62%

    54%

    40%

    46%

    39%

    -7%

    Too close to the big corporate and financial interests

    46%

    36%

    39%

    +3%

    Extreme

    25%

    26%

    38%

    31%

    38%

    +7%

    Clear about what they stand for

    28%

    31%

    27%

    -4%

    Has a good team of leaders

    60%

    52%

    34%

    29%

    24%

    -5%

    Keeps its promises

    44%

    33%

    20%

    22%

    19%

    -3%

    The Labor Party’s main attributes were – divided (82%), will promise anything to win votes (71%), out of touch with ordinary people (63%) and moderate (47%).

    Main changes since last May were – divided (up 9% to 82%), understands the problems facing Australia (down 7% to 39%), extreme (up 7% to 38%), out of touch with ordinary people (up 5% to 63%), looks after the interests of working people (down 5% to 42%) and has a good team of leaders (down 5% to 24%).

  • Apr, 2013

    ,

    Attributes of the Liberal Party

    Q. And which statements do you feel fit the Liberal Party?

     

    6 July 09

    14 Mar 10

     

    27 April 11

    28 May 12

    2 Apr 13

    % change

    Will promise to do anything to win votes

    67%

    72%

    65%

    63%

    67%

    +4%

    Too close to the big corporate and financial interests

    60%

    58%

    59%

    +1%

    Out of touch with ordinary people

    62%

    58%

    54%

    53%

    54%

    +1%

    Moderate

    50%

    50%

    55%

    52%

    52%

    Have a vision for the future

    48%

    48%

    52%

    +4%

    Understands the problems facing Australia

    44%

    43%

    51%

    52%

    50%

    -2%

    Clear about what they stand for

    44%

    46%

    48%

    +2%

    Has a good team of leaders

    29%

    31%

    40%

    39%

    41%

    +2%

    Looks after the interests of working people

    38%

    40%

    40%

    Extreme

    36%

    38%

    36%

    34%

    35%

    +1%

    Keeps its promises

    28%

    23%

    33%

    34%

    34%

    Divided

    74%

    66%

    49%

    37%

    32%

    -5%

    The Liberal Party’s main attributes were – will promise anything to win votes (67%), too close to the big corporate and financial interest (59%), out of touch with ordinary people (54%), moderate (52%) and have a vision for the future (52%).

    The only substantial change since May last year was a drop in the figure for “divided” – down 5% to 32%.

  • Apr, 2013

    ,

    Party attributes comparison – Labor vs Liberal

     

    Labor

    Liberal

     

    % difference

    Divided

    82%

    32%

    +50%

    Out of touch with ordinary people

    63%

    54%

    +9%

    Will promise to do anything to win votes

    71%

    67%

    +4%

    Extreme

    38%

    35%

    +3%

    Looks after the interests of working people

    42%

    40%

    +2%

    Moderate

    47%

    52%

    -5%

    Have a vision for the future

    42%

    52%

    -10%

    Understands the problems facing Australia

    39%

    50%

    -11%

    Keeps its promises

    19%

    34%

    -15%

    Has a good team of leaders

    24%

    41%

    -17%

    Too close to the big corporate and financial interests

    39%

    59%

    -20%

    Clear about what they stand for

    27%

    48%

    -21%

    The Labor Party is viewed more favourably than the Liberal Party in terms of being too close to the big corporate and financial interests.

    The Liberal Party is seen more favourably in terms of – divided, clear about what they stand for, has a good team of leaders and keeps it promises.

     

  • Apr, 2013

    , , , , , , , ,

    Leader attributes – Julia Gillard

    Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard?

     

    5
    Jul
    10

    4
    Oct
    10

    7
    Feb
    11

    27
    Jun
    11

    2
    Apr
    12

    17
    Sept
    12

    14
    Jan
    13

    2
    Apr
    13

    Change

    Intelligent

    87%

    81%

    75%

    73%

    61%

    68%

    72%

    69%

    -3%

    Hard-working

    89%

    82%

    76%

    75%

    65%

    69%

    72%

    66%

    -6%

    Out of touch with ordinary people

    35%

    44%

    50%

    60%

    65%

    56%

    53%

    64%

    +11%

    Arrogant

    37%

    39%

    44%

    48%

    53%

    46%

    47%

    55%

    +8%

    Superficial

    51%

    52%

    54%

    46%

    46%

    55%

    +9%

    Narrow-minded

    28%

    35%

    43%

    46%

    53%

    46%

    45%

    55%

    +10%

    Aggressive

    42%

    46%

    55%

    +9%

    Erratic

    43%

    40%

    55%

    +15%

    Intolerant

    37%

    37%

    49%

    +12%

    Good in a crisis

    61%

    46%

    46%

    41%

    36%

    43%

    50%

    44%

    -6%

    A capable leader

    72%

    59%

    52%

    42%

    38%

    43%

    50%

    37%

    -13%

    Understands the problems facing Australia

    68%

    55%

    52%

    44%

    41%

    43%

    47%

    37%

    -10%

    Visionary

    48%

    38%

    30%

    26%

    25%

    31%

    29%

    30%

    +1%

    More honest than most politicians

    45%

    37%

    37%

    29%

    26%

    31%

    30%

    27%

    -3%

    Trustworthy

    49%

    42%

    40%

    30%

    25%

    30%

    32%

    25%

    -7%

    Julia Gillard’s key attributes were intelligent (69%), hard-working (66%), out of touch with ordinary people (64%), arrogant (55%), superficial (55%), narrow-minded (55%), aggressive (55%) and erratic (55%).    Almost all positive leader attributes for Gillard moved down and the negative attributes moved down from the last time the question was polled in January.   The biggest shifts were for erratic (+15%), a capable leader (-13%), intolerant (+12), out of touch with ordinary people (+11%), narrow-minded (+10%) and understands the problems facing Australia (-10%).

  • Apr, 2013

    , , , , , ,

    Leader attributes – comparisons

     

    Gillard

    Abbott

    Difference

    Out of touch with ordinary people

    64%

    52%

    +12%

    Erratic

    55%

    45%

    +10%

    Intelligent

    69%

    63%

    +6%

    Superficial

    55%

    49%

    +6%

    Aggressive

    55%

    49%

    +6%

    Narrow-minded

    55%

    53%

    +2%

    Intolerant

    49%

    48%

    +1%

    Good in a crisis

    44%

    44%

    Arrogant

    55%

    56%

    -1%

    Hard-working

    66%

    70%

    -4%

    Visionary

    30%

    37%

    -7%

    More honest than most politicians

    27%

    36%

    -9%

    A capable leader

    37%

    47%

    -10%

    Trustworthy

    25%

    36%

    -11%

    Understands the problems facing Australia

    37%

    49%

    -12%

    Compared to Tony Abbott, Julia Gillard is seen as more likely to be considered out of touch with ordinary people (+12%) and erratic (+10%).

    Tony Abbott is regarded by significantly more respondents to understand the problems facing Australians (+12) and to be trustworthy (+11%), a capable leader (+10%) and more honest than most politicians (+9%).

  • Apr, 2013

    , ,

    Social class

    Q. Do you believe social classes still exist in Australia? 

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Income under $600pw

    Income $600 – $1,000pw

    Income $1,000 – $1,600pw

    Income $1,600+

    Yes

    91%

     

    90%

    93%

    96%

    84%

    90%

    92%

    93%

    No

    9%

    10%

    7%

    4%

    16%

    10%

    8%

    7%

    91% agreed that social class still exists in Australia – only 9% disagreed. There was little difference across demographic groups – more than 80% of all major groups agreed.

Error: