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  • Feb, 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 = 1,928 respondents

    First preference/leaning to

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    2 weeks ago

    21/1/13

    Last week

    29/01/13

    This week

    5/02/13

    Liberal

    44%

    44%

    45%

    National

    4%

    3%

    3%

    Total Lib/Nat

    43.6%

    48%

    48%

    48%

    Labor

    38.0%

    36%

    35%

    34%

    Greens

    11.8%

    9%

    10%

    10%

    Other/Independent

    6.6%

    8%

    7%

    8%

     

    2PP

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    2 weeks ago

    Last week

     

    This week

    Total Lib/Nat

    49.9%

    54%

    54%

    54%

    Labor

    50.1%

    46%

    46%

    46%

    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%.

     

  • Feb, 2013

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    Election date announcement

    Q.The Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced the Federal Election will be held on September 14 this year. Do you approve or disapprove of the election date being announced nearly 8 months in advance?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total approve

    48%

    73%

    35%

    45%

    Total disapprove

    34%

    13%

    50%

    35%

    Strongly approve

    15%

    24%

    10%

    16%

    Approve

    33%

    49%

    25%

    29%

    Disapprove

    19%

    10%

    25%

    26%

    Strongly disapprove

    15%

    3%

    25%

    9%

    Don’t know

    19%

    14%

    16%

    20%

    48% approve of the announcement of the next Federal election date and 34% disapprove. 73% of Labor voters approve compared to 45% of Greens voters and 35% of Liberal/National voters. 50% of Liberal/National voters disapprove.

    There were no major differences by demographics – although men were a little more likely to approve (53%) and women a little more likely to disapprove (38%).

  • Feb, 2013

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    Budget surplus

    Q. Thinking about the Federal Government budget, how important do you believe it is for the budget to be in surplus…?

     

    Total impor
    -tant

    Total
    not impor
    -tant

    Very impor
    -tant

    Quite Impor
    -tant

    Not very impor
    -tant

    Not
    at all impor
    -tant

    Don’t know

    Total impor
    -tant
    2 Oct
    12

    …for the country as a whole

    69%

    26%

    28%

    41%

    22%

    4%

    5%

    68%

    …for you personally

    54%

    39%

    20%

    34%

    29%

    10%

    7%

    46%

    A clear majority of respondents (69%) regard having a Federal Government budget surplus to be important for the country as a whole, whereas a somewhat smaller majority regard it to be important for them personally (54%).

    39% of respondents believe having a Federal Government budget surplus was not important for them personally.

    Since this question was last asked in October, those who think a budget surplus is important for them personally has increased from 46% to 54%.

    Those most likely to think a budget surplus is important to them personally were Liberal/National voters (67%) and full-time workers (60%).

  • Feb, 2013

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    Approval of budget surplus

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the Government’s decision not to return the budget to surplus this financial year?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total approve

    42%

    64%

    29%

    55%

    Total disapprove

    37%

    12%

    57%

    25%

    Strongly approve

    9%

    18%

    5%

    8%

    Approve

    33%

    46%

    24%

    47%

    Disapprove

    27%

    11%

    39%

    22%

    Strongly disapprove

    10%

    1%

    18%

    3%

    Don’t know

    21%

    23%

    14%

    20%

    42% approve of the Government’s decision not to return the budget to surplus this financial year and 37% disapprove.

    Those most likely to approve were Labor voters (64%), Greens voters (55%), men (51%), aged 55+ (50%) and people on incomes under $600pw (50%).

    57% of Liberal/National voters disapprove.

  • Feb, 2013

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    Will the Coalition deliver a surplus

    Q. Do you think that if Tony Abbott and Coalition win the next election, they will deliver a budget surplus in their first year of Government?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Probably will deliver a surplus

    19%

    10%

    31%

    14%

    Probably won’t deliver a surplus

    60%

    74%

    52%

    66%

    Don’t know

    20%

    16%

    18%

    20%

    60% think that if Tony Abbott and Coalition win the next election, they probably won’t deliver a budget surplus in their first year of Government and 19% think they probably will.

    A majority of all demographic and voter groups (including Liberal/National voters) think the Coalition will probably not deliver a surplus in their first year if elected.

  • Feb, 2013

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    Changes in cost of living

    Q. Compared to two or three years ago is your household paying more or less for the following –

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Paying a lot more

     

    Paying a lot more

    Paying a little more

    Paying about the same

    Paying a little less

    Paying a lot less

    Don’t know

    Own home outright

    Own home with mortgage

    Renting

    Petrol

    50%

    33%

    11%

    2%

    1%

    4%

    44%

    49%

    55%

    Fresh food – fruit, vegetables, meat

    36%

    43%

    16%

    4%

    *

    2%

    33%

    35%

    41%

    Packaged food

    28%

    39%

    24%

    4%

    *

    4%

    26%

    27%

    33%

    Electricity and gas

    70%

    22%

    4%

    1%

    1%

    2%

    69%

    73%

    71%

    Housing – mortgage or rent

    24%

    22%

    29%

    10%

    3%

    12%

    10%

    21%

    40%

    Insurance

    43%

    36%

    14%

    1%

    1%

    5%

    48%

    47%

    35%

    Water

    47%

    32%

    14%

    1%

    1%

    6%

    48%

    54%

    38%

    Clothing

    21%

    30%

    37%

    9%

    1%

    2%

    17%

    21%

    25%

    Education

    24%

    20%

    27%

    3%

    3%

    23%

    15%

    28%

    26%

    Medical, dental

    33%

    33%

    27%

    2%

    *

    3%

    33%

    35%

    34%

    Items which respondents said they were “paying a lot more” for were electricity and gas (70%), petrol (50%), water (47%) and insurance (43%).

    Homeowners had similar responses to the total sample, but the main things renters were paying a lot more for were electricity and gas (71%), petrol (55%), fresh food (41%) and housing (40%).

  • Feb, 2013

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    Government regulation

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of Governments making laws to regulate the following?

     

    Total approve

    Total dis
    -approve

    Strongly approve

    Approve

    Dis
    -approve

    Strongly dis
    -approve

    Don’t know

    Total approve 30 Apr 12

    Wearing seatbelts in cars

    97%

    2%

    77%

    20%

    2%

    *

    1%

    97%

    Wearing bike helmets

    92%

    6%

    68%

    24%

    5%

    1%

    2%

    94%

    Personal use of recreational drugs

    64%

    27%

    34%

    30%

    12%

    15%

    10%

    59%

    Smoking in public places

    72%

    25%

    46%

    26%

    13%

    12%

    3%

    67%

    Buying and consuming alcohol

    73%

    21%

    31%

    42%

    15%

    6%

    5%

    69%

    Shopping hours

    56%

    35%

    17%

    39%

    25%

    10%

    9%

    56%

    Cigarette packaging

    67%

    27%

    40%

    27%

    14%

    13%

    6%

    64%

    Junk food advertising

    71%

    24%

    31%

    40%

    16%

    8%

    4%

    66%

    Gambling, poker machines

    73%

    23%

    40%

    33%

    13%

    10%

    4%

    na

    Films (i.e. censorship)

    61%

    31%

    20%

    41%

    21%

    10%

    8%

    62%

    The internet

    53%

    38%

    18%

    35%

    22%

    16%

    8%

    49%

    Making public statements which other people might find offensive

    41%

    44%

    13%

    28%

    26%

    18%

    15%

    na

    For each of the areas listed above more than half of respondents approved of Governments making laws to regulate the area – with the exception of “making public statements which other people might find offensive” (41% approve/44% disapprove).

    The highest levels of approval were for wearing seatbelts in cars (97%) and wearing bike helmets (92%). The highest levels of disapproval were for making public statements which other people might find offensive (44%), the internet (38%) and shopping hours (35%).

    Since this question was asked in April last year approval of regulation has increased for personal use of recreational drugs (+5%), smoking in public places (+5%) and junk food advertising (+5%).

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