13 February 2012, Approval of Julia Gillard, Approval rating, Julia Gillard, Labor Party, leadership, PM, Polling, polls, Prime Minister
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister?
| 19 Jul 2010 | 20 Dec 2010 | 14 Mar
2011 |
14 June | 12 Sept | 17 Oct | 14 Nov | 12 Dec | 16 Jan 2012 | 13 Feb | |
| Total approve | 52% | 43% | 41% | 34% | 28% | 34% | 37% | 34% | 37% | 36% |
| Total disapprove | 30% | 40% | 46% | 54% | 64% | 59% | 55% | 54% | 52% | 53% |
| Strongly approve | 11% | 10% | 7% | 6% | 5% | 7% | 8% | 6% | 6% | 6% |
| Approve | 41% | 33% | 34% | 28% | 23% | 27% | 29% | 28% | 31% | 30% |
| Disapprove | 17% | 24% | 22% | 29% | 28% | 27% | 25% | 25% | 27% | 26% |
| Strongly disapprove | 13% | 16% | 24% | 25% | 36% | 32% | 30% | 29% | 25% | 27% |
| Don’t know | 18% | 17% | 13% | 13% | 8% | 7% | 9% | 11% | 12% | 11% |
Julia Gillard’s approval rating has remained much the same as last month. 36% (down 1%) approve of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister and 53% (up 1%) disapprove – a change in net rating from -15 to -17 over the last 4 weeks.
79% of Labor voters approve (up 3%) and 14% disapprove (down 1%).
By gender – men 39% approve/53% disapprove, women 34% approve/52% disapprove.
13 February 2012, Approval of Tony Abbott, Approval rating, leadership, Liberal Party, Opposition leader, Polling, polls, tony abbott
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?
| 18 Jan
2010 |
5 Jul
2010 |
20 Dec 2010 | 14 Mar
2011 |
14 June | 12 Sept | 17 Oct | 14 Nov | 12 Dec | 16 Jan 2012 | 13 Feb | |
| Total approve | 37% | 37% | 39% | 38% | 38% | 39% | 40% | 36% | 32% | 35% | 35% |
| Total disapprove | 37% | 47% | 39% | 47% | 48% | 50% | 51% | 52% | 53% | 51% | 53% |
| Strongly approve | 5% | 8% | 9% | 7% | 6% | 8% | 8% | 6% | 6% | 7% | 6% |
| Approve | 32% | 29% | 30% | 31% | 32% | 31% | 32% | 30% | 26% | 28% | 29% |
| Disapprove | 20% | 23% | 21% | 24% | 25% | 23% | 23% | 26% | 25% | 25% | 23% |
| Strongly disapprove | 17% | 24% | 18% | 23% | 23% | 27% | 28% | 26% | 28% | 26% | 30% |
| Don’t know | 26% | 16% | 22% | 16% | 15% | 11% | 9% | 12% | 14% | 13% | 12% |
Tony Abbott’s approval rating has also changed little over the last month. 35% (no change) approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader and 53% (up 2%) disapprove – a change in net rating from -16 to -18 over the last 4 weeks.
67% (down 1%) of Coalition voters approve and 21% (no change) disapprove.
By gender – men 40% approve/52% disapprove, women 31% approve/54% disapprove.
13 February 2012, Better Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, Labor, Liberal, PM, Polling, polls, Prime Minister, tony abbott
Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott?
| 5 Jul 2010 | 14 Mar | 14 June | 12 Sept | 17 Oct | 14 Nov | 12 Dec | 16 Jan 2012 | 13 Feb | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Julia Gillard | 53% | 44% | 41% | 36% | 38% | 41% | 39% | 39% | 41% | 85% | 5% | 76% |
| Tony Abbott | 26% | 33% | 36% | 40% | 39% | 36% | 35% | 36% | 34% | 3% | 73% | 7% |
| Don’t know | 21% | 23% | 24% | 24% | 23% | 24% | 26% | 25% | 25% | 12% | 22% | 17% |
41% (up 2%) believe Julia Gillard would make the better Prime Minister and 34% (down 2%) prefer Tony Abbott – a net change from +3% to +7% for Julia Gillard. This is Julia Gillard’s best result since May last year.
Men prefer Julia Gillard 42%/37% and women favour Julia Gillard 40%/32%.
13 February 2012, ALP, Election, Julia Gillard, Labor Party, leadership, Liberal Party, Next Election, party leadership, tony abbott
Q. Do you think Julia Gillard will still be leading the Labor Party at the election due next year?
Q. Do you think Tony Abbott will still be leading the Liberal Party at the election due next year?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | ||
| Julia Gillard | Yes | 31% | 54% | 19% | 43% |
| No | 47% | 22% | 70% | 26% | |
| Don’t know | 22% | 24% | 11% | 31% | |
| Tony Abbott | Yes | 47% | 37% | 67% | 34% |
| No | 25% | 37% | 12% | 31% | |
| Don’t know | 28% | 26% | 21% | 35% |
31% think Julia Gillard will still be the leader of the Labor Party at the election due next year and 47% think she will not be the leader. Opinions are closely associated with party preference. 54% of Labor voters think she will still be the leader.
47% think Tony Abbott will still be the leader of the Liberal Party at the election due next year and 25% think he will not be the leader. Opinions are closely associated with party preference. 67% of Liberal/National voters think he will still be the leader.
Among non-major party voters, 36% think Julia Gillard will still be leading the Labor Party and 33% think Tony Abbott will still be leading the Liberal Party.
13 February 2012, business, Fairfax, Fairfax Newspapers, Gina Rinehart, media, mining, Politics, Polling, polls, reporting
Q. Gina Rinehart (mining company owner and Australia’s wealthiest person) has recently bought a major stake in Fairfax newspapers (publishers of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age). Do you think this will make Fairfax newspapers reporting of politics and business more balanced and independent, less balanced and independent or will It make no difference?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | NSW | Victoria | |
| More balanced and independent | 7% | 7% | 8% | 6% | 11% | 5% |
| Less balanced and independent | 31% | 35% | 22% | 62% | 33% | 31% |
| Make no difference | 44% | 36% | 55% | 23% | 38% | 46% |
| Don’t know | 19% | 22% | 15% | 9% | 18% | 18% |
44% think that Gina Rinehart’s purchase of a major stake in Fairfax will make no difference to the balance and independence of the newspapers. 31% think this will make the newspapers less balanced and independent and only 7% think the newspapers will become more balanced and independent.
Greens voters (62%) and respondents aged under 35 (37%) were most likely to think the newspapers will become less balanced and independent and Liberal/National voters least likely (22%).
13 February 2012, Government Control, media, media control, media ownership, Polling, polls
Q. Do you think the Government should have more or less control of media ownership in Australia?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | NSW | Victoria | |
| Should have more control | 24% | 29% | 17% | 38% | 28% | 22% |
| Should have less control | 24% | 17% | 30% | 30% | 23% | 29% |
| Has about the right control now | 34% | 38% | 38% | 18% | 34% | 34% |
| Don’t know | 18% | 16% | 15% | 14% | 16% | 16% |
Respondents were evenly divided over whether the Government should have more or less control of media ownership in Australia. 24% think they should have more control and 24% think they should have less – and 34% think they have about the right control.
Greens voters (38%) and Labor voters (29%) are more likely to think the Government should have more control and 30% of Liberal/National voters think they should have less control.
13 February 2012, advanced industrial countries, Australia, fair and just, fairness, industrial countries, justice, Polling, polls
Q. Compared to other advanced industrial countries would you say Australia is fairer and more just, about average, or less fair and just?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total more fair and just | 46% | 53% | 47% | 40% |
| A lot more fair and just | 14% | 18% | 14% | 7% |
| A little more fair and just | 32% | 35% | 33% | 33% |
| About average | 38% | 35% | 39% | 47% |
| A little less fair and just | 8% | 7% | 7% | 8% |
| A lot less fair and just | 3% | 2% | 3% | 3% |
| Don’t know | 5% | 3% | 3% | 1% |
46% think that Australia is fairer and more just than other advanced industrial countries.
Labor voters (53%) are more likely to think Australia is more fair and just than Liberal/National voters (47%) or Greens voters (40%).
13 February 2012, Australia, Canada, China, fair and just, fairness, France, Japan, justice, New Zealand, Polling, polls, The UK, The United States
Q. Would you say that Australia is more or less fair and just as a nation and society than the following countries?
| More fair and just | About the same | Less fair and just | Don’t know | |
| China | 66% | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| The United States | 47% | 33% | 10% | 10% |
| Japan | 41% | 30% | 12% | 18% |
| France | 34% | 34% | 13% | 19% |
| The UK | 26% | 58% | 7% | 9% |
| Canada | 12% | 61% | 13% | 14% |
| New Zealand | 12% | 68% | 11% | 9% |
66% think Australia is a more fair and just society than China and 47% think Australia is more fair than the United States.
More than half think Australia is about as fair and just as New Zealand (68%), Canada (61%) and the UK (58%).
Views about the United States are similar across most demographic groups except for those on higher incomes – 51% of those on incomes over $1,600 pw think Australia is more fair and just than the United States.