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 = 1,888 respondents

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%.

Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister?

37% (down 4%) approve of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister and 53% (up 4%) disapprove – an 8-point change in net rating from -8 to -16.

82% of Labor voters approve (down 3%) and 13% disapprove (up 5%).

By gender – men 36% approve/57% disapprove, women 38% approve/48% disapprove.  In net terms this represents a shift with men from -16 to -21 and with women from 0 to -10.

Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?

33% (no change) approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader and 56% (down 2%) disapprove – a change in net rating from -25 to -23 over the last 4 weeks.

63% (down 2%) of Coalition voters approve and 30% (up 1%) disapprove.

By gender – men 37% approve/55% disapprove, women 28% approve/56% disapprove. In net terms this represents a small improvement with men from -20 to -18 and with women from -30 to -28.

Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott?

43% (down 2%) believe Julia Gillard would make the better Prime Minister and 34% (up 2%) prefer Tony Abbott.

Men prefer Julia Gillard 40%/39% and women prefer Julia Gillard 46%/29%. Compared to last month’s figures, Julia Gillard’s margin over Tony Abbott has dropped 3 points among men (from 40%/36%) and 4 points among women (from 49%/28%).

Q. Over the last few years, have your gas and/or electricity costs increased, decreased or stayed much the same?

86% say their power costs have increased over the last few years including 45% who say their costs have increased a lot.

Those most likely to say their power costs have increased a lot were aged 45-54 (59%) and Liberal/National voters (50%).

There were no substantial differences across income groups.

88% of those with air conditioning or evaporative cooling said their power costs had increased including 47% who said they have increased a lot.

In comparison, 79% of those without air conditioning or evaporative cooling said their power costs had increased including 40% who said they have increased a lot.

Q. And as far as you know, over the last few years, has your gas and/or electricity usage increased, decreased or stayed much the same?

54% say their power usage has increased over the last few years, 16% say it has decreased and 26% think it has stayed much the same.

Change in usage was similar across all ages except the 65+ group where 39% thought their usage had increased, 22% decreased and 38% stayed much the same.

Among Greens voters, 42% said their usage had increased, 24% decreased and 30% stayed much the same. There were no substantial differences across income groups.

56% of those with air conditioning or evaporative cooling said their power usage had increased compared with 45% of those without air conditioning or evaporative cooling.

Q. Who do you think is mainly responsible for electricity and gas prices?

45% believe that power companies are mainly responsible for electricity and gas prices, 27% think the Federal Government is mainly responsible and 16% State Governments.

40% of Liberal/National voters think the Federal Government is mainly responsible. Answers were similar across the major states – NSW, Victoria, Queensland.

Q. Which is closer to your view? 

56% agree that power generation and distribution should be operated by government and 24% think they should be operated by private companies.

Liberal/National voters (31%) were most likely to support operation by private companies while highest support for Government operation came from Labor voters (66%), Greens voters (68%) and respondents aged 45+ (63%).