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  • Mar, 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 = 1,948 respondents

    First preference/leaning to

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    11/2/13

    2 weeks ago

    25/2/13

    Last week

    4/3/13

    This week

    11/3/13

    Liberal

    45%

    46%

    46%

    45%

    National

    3%

    3%

    3%

    3%

    Total Lib/Nat

    43.6%

    48%

    49%

    49%

    48%

    Labor

    38.0%

    34%

    34%

    32%

    34%

    Greens

    11.8%

    9%

    9%

    10%

    9%

    Other/Independent

    6.6%

    9%

    8%

    8%

    9%

     

    2PP

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    2 weeks ago

    Last week

     

    This week

    Total Lib/Nat

    49.9%

    55%

    56%

    56%

    55%

    Labor

    50.1%

    45%

    44%

    44%

    45%

    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%.

  • Mar, 2013

    , ,

    Approval of Julia Gillard

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

     

    19 Jul 10

    20 Dec

    14 Mar
    11

    14 Jun

    12 Sep

    12 Dec

    12 Mar 12

    12 Jun

    10 Sep

    10 Dec

    14 Jan 13

    11 Feb

    11 Mar

    Total approve

    52%

    43%

    41%

    34%

    28%

    34%

    32%

    32%

    35%

    37%

    41%

    36%

    36%

    Total disapprove

    30%

    40%

    46%

    54%

    64%

    54%

    61%

    56%

    54%

    53%

    49%

    55%

    56%

    Strongly approve

    11%

    10%

    7%

    6%

    5%

    6%

    8%

    6%

    7%

    10%

    9%

    7%

    8%

    Approve

    41%

    33%

    34%

    28%

    23%

    28%

    24%

    26%

    28%

    27%

    32%

    29%

    28%

    Disapprove

    17%

    24%

    22%

    29%

    28%

    25%

    29%

    22%

    27%

    25%

    23%

    25%

    24%

    Strongly disapprove

    13%

    16%

    24%

    25%

    36%

    29%

    32%

    34%

    27%

    28%

    26%

    30%

    32%

    Don’t know

    18%

    17%

    13%

    13%

    8%

    11%

    7%

    12%

    11%

    11%

    10%

    9%

    9%

    36% (no change) approve of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister and 56% (up 1%) disapprove – a 1-point change in net rating from -19 to -20 over the last 4 weeks.

    75% of Labor voters approve (no change) and 16% disapprove (down 3%).

    By gender – men 36% approve/60% disapprove, women 37% approve/51% disapprove.  In net terms this represents a decline with men from -23 to -24 and no change with women (-14).

  • Mar, 2013

    , ,

    Approval of Tony Abbott

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

    18
    Jan
    10

    5
    Jul

     

    20 Dec

    14
    Mar
    11

    14
    Jun

    12
    Sep

    12 Dec

    12
    Mar
    12

    12
    Jun

    10 Sep

    10
    Dec

    14
    Jan
    13

    11
    Feb

    11
    Mar

    Total approve

    37%

    37%

    39%

    38%

    38%

    39%

    32%

    36%

    32%

    32%

    33%

    33%

    36%

    37%

    Total disapprove

    37%

    47%

    39%

    47%

    48%

    50%

    53%

    52%

    54%

    55%

    56%

    57%

    53%

    51%

    Strongly approve

    5%

    8%

    9%

    7%

    6%

    8%

    6%

    7%

    6%

    6%

    8%

    8%

    7%

    7%

    Approve

    32%

    29%

    30%

    31%

    32%

    31%

    26%

    29%

    26%

    26%

    25%

    25%

    29%

    30%

    Disapprove

    20%

    23%

    21%

    24%

    25%

    23%

    25%

    23%

    24%

    26%

    25%

    27%

    22%

    22%

    Strongly disapprove

    17%

    24%

    18%

    23%

    23%

    27%

    28%

    29%

    30%

    29%

    31%

    30%

    31%

    29%

    Don’t know

    26%

    16%

    22%

    16%

    15%

    11%

    14%

    12%

    13%

    13%

    12%

    10%

    11%

    12%

    37% (up 1%) approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader and 51% (down 2%) disapprove – a change in net rating from -17 to -14 over the last 4 weeks.

    69% (down 1%) of Coalition voters approve and 20% (down 1%) disapprove.

    By gender – men 42% approve/52% disapprove, women 33% approve/51% disapprove. In net terms this represents a shift with men from -13 to -10 and with women from -21 to -18.

  • Mar, 2013

    , , , ,

    Better Prime Minister

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

     

    5
    Jul 10

    14 Mar 11

    14 Jun

    12 Sept

    12 Dec

    12 Mar 12

    12 Jun

    10 Sep

    10 Dec

    14 Jan 13

    11 Feb

    11 Mar

    Vote
    ALP 

    Vote Lib

    Vote Gre
    ens

    Julia Gillard

    53%

    44%

    41%

    36%

    39%

    40%

    37%

    40%

    43%

    42%

    39%

    39%

    84%

    6%

    71%

    Tony Abbott

    26%

    33%

    36%

    40%

    35%

    37%

    37%

    37%

    34%

    33%

    37%

    39%

    2%

    80%

    3%

    Don’t know

    21%

    23%

    24%

    24%

    26%

    23%

    26%

    24%

    23%

    24%

    24%

    22%

    14%

    13%

    25%

    39% (no change) believe Julia Gillard would make the better Prime Minister and 39% (up 2%) prefer Tony Abbott.

    Men prefer Tony Abbott 41%/36% and women prefer Julia Gillard 42%/37%.

  • Mar, 2013

    , , ,

    Immigration issues

    Q. Which of the following issues are you most concerned about?

    (two versions of responses were presented – each to approximately half the sample)

    The arrival of asylum seekers by boat

    38%

    33%

    The arrival of approximately 15,000 asylum seekers by boat each year

    The use of foreign workers under short term (457) visas

    20%

    31%

    The use of about 150,000 foreign workers under short term (457) visas each year

    The overall increase in Australia’s total population

    18%

    17%

    The overall increase in Australia’s total population of about 300,000 people each year

    None of them

    19%

    15%

    None of them

    Don’t know

    4%

    4%

    Don’t know

    As general issues (without specific figures), 38% of respondents said they were most concerned about the arrival of asylum seekers by boat compared to 20% most concerned about use of workers on 457 visas and 18% most concerned about the overall population increase.

    When approximate figures were specified for each option, most concern about asylum seekers dropped to 33% and most concern about 457 visas increased to 31%.

    Based on the options which included figures – 36% of Labor voters are most concerned about 457 visas compared to 32% of Liberal/National voters. Liberal/National voters were more concerned about asylum seekers (42% – compared to 23% for Labor voters).

    There were few differences by age or gender – except that older respondents were somewhat more likely to be most concerned about asylum seekers (42% of aged 55+).

  • Mar, 2013

    ,

    Opinion of privatisation

    Q. Generally, do you think that privatisation – that is, having public services owned or run by private companies – is a good or bad idea?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    A good idea

    22%

    19%

    28%

    14%

    A bad idea

    58%

    64%

    54%

    70%

    Don’t know

    20%

    17%

    18%

    17%

    58% think that, generally, privatisation is a bad idea and 22% think it is generally a good idea. More than half of all voter and demographic groups think it is generally a bad idea.

    Those most likely to think it is a bad idea were – aged 55+ (66%), Greens voters (70%), Labor voters (64%) and incomes under $600pw (64%).

    By state, 26% of NSW and 24% of Victoria think privatisation is generally a good idea compared to 15% for Queensland.

  • Mar, 2013

    , , , , , , , , ,

    Services better run by Government or Private Sector

    Q. Which of the following are better run by the private sector and which are better run by Government?

     

    11 Mar 2013

    31 Jan 2011

     

    Better run by private sector

    Better run by Government

    Don’t know

    Better run by private sector

    Better run by Government

    Don’t know

    Electricity

    25%

    62%

    13%

    22%

    61%

    17%

    Water

    19%

    69%

    12%

    15%

    70%

    16%

    Trains, buses and ferries

    25%

    64%

    11%

    19%

    68%

    13%

    Motorways

    23%

    66%

    11%

    17%

    70%

    13%

    Community services such as child protection

    14%

    75%

    11%

    14%

    71%

    15%

    Telecommunications (including broadband services)

    45%

    44%

    11%

    na

    na

    na

    Hospitals and health services

    19%

    71%

    10%

    na

    na

    na

    Schools

    21%

    69%

    10%

    na

    na

    na

    Prisons

    17%

    73%

    11%

    10%

    76%

    15%

    Universities

    27%

    61%

    12%

    20%

    64%

    16%

    Ports

    22%

    60%

    19%

    na

    na

    na

    Most services listed were clearly thought to be better run by Government than the private sector.

    The only exception was telecommunications where respondents were split 45% private sector, 44% Government.

    The areas most preferred to be run by Government were – community services (75%), prisons (73%), hospitals and health services (71%), schools (69%) and water (69%).

    Compared to the results when this question was asked in January 2011, preference for the private sector running services has increased a little – +6% for trains, buses and ferries and motorways and +7% for prisons and universities.

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