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  • May, 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 = 1,924 respondents

    First preference/leaning to

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    22/4/13

    2 weeks ago

    6/5/13

    Last week

    13/5/13

    This week

    20/5/13

    Liberal

    44%

    44%

    44%

    45%

    National

    3%

    4%

    3%

    3%

    Total Lib/Nat

    43.6%

    48%

    48%

    48%

    48%

    Labor

    38.0%

    34%

    33%

    34%

    35%

    Greens

    11.8%

    9%

    9%

    9%

    8%

    Other/Independent

    6.6%

    9%

    10%

    10%

    9%

     

    2PP

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    2 weeks ago

    Last week

     

    This week

    Total Lib/Nat

    49.9%

    55%

    56%

    55%

    55%

    Labor

    50.1%

    44%

    44%

    45%

    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%.

  • May, 2013

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    Impact of Budget

    Q. Do you think the Federal Budget was good or bad for you personally?

    Q. Do you think the Federal Budget was good or bad for average working people?

    Q. Do you think the Federal Budget was good or bad for Australian businesses?

    Q. Do you think the Federal Budget was good or bad for the Australian economy overall?

     

    You
    personally

    Working people

    Australian
    businesses

    Economy
    overall

     

    10

    11

    12

    13

    12

    13

    10

    11

    12

    13

    10

    11

    12

    13

    Total good

    22%

    11%

    17%

    13%

    31%

    17%

    27%

    20%

    10%

    15%

    36%

    27%

    26%

    26%

    Total bad

    26%

    29%

    26%

    36%

    24%

    40%

    32%

    25%

    43%

    33%

    28%

    29%

    32%

    34%

    Very good

    3%

    2%

    2%

    2%

    4%

    2%

    3%

    3%

    1%

    2%

    6%

    4%

    4%

    5%

    Good

    19%

    9%

    15%

    11%

    27%

    15%

    24%

    17%

    9%

    13%

    30%

    23%

    22%

    21%

    Neither good
    nor bad

    33%

    44%

    44%

    38%

    33%

    30%

    9%

    31%

    29%

    32%

    10%

    25%

    25%

    24%

    Bad

    18%

    21%

    17%

    22%

    19%

    27%

    22%

    19%

    28%

    20%

    18%

    21%

    21%

    21%

    Very bad

    8%

    8%

    9%

    14%

    5%

    13%

    10%

    6%

    15%

    13%

    10%

    8%

    11%

    13%

    Don’t know

    20%

    16%

    12%

    12%

    12%

    12%

    31%

    23%

    18%

    19%

    26%

    20%

    17%

    15%

    In terms of the economy overall, there was a similar response to the 2013 budget as to the last two year’s budgets. 26% (no change from last year) thought the budget was good for the economy and 34% (up 2%) thought it was bad.  56% of Labor voters thought the budget was good for the economy and 8% bad while only 8% of Liberal/national voters thought it was good and 56% bad.

    38% of respondents thought the Federal budget was neither good nor bad for them personally – 13% (down 4% on last year) said it was good and 36% (up 10%) bad. 51% of those aged 55+ thought it was neither.

    17% (down 14%) thought it was good for working people and 40% (up 16%) thought it was bad.

    15% (up 5%) thought the budget was good for businesses, 33% (down 10%) bad and 32% said it was neither.

  • May, 2013

    , , ,

    Government spending cuts

    Q. Do you think the Federal Budget has cut Government spending by too much, not enough or about the right amount?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Cut spending too much

    20%

    20%

    19%

    23%

    Not cut spending enough

    34%

    13%

    54%

    25%

    Cut spending about right amount

    21%

    42%

    9%

    29%

    Don’t know

    25%

    25%

    18%

    23%

    34% thought that the Federal budget had not cut Government spending enough. 20% thought it had cut spending too much and 21% thought it had cut spending about right.

    42% of Labor voters thought the spending cuts were about right while 54% of Liberal/National voters thought spending had not been cut enough.

  • May, 2013

    , , ,

    Liberal Party and WorkChoices

    Q. If they won the next election, how likely do you think it would be that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices?

     

    31 May 10

    12
    July

    21
    Nov
    11

    23
    Jul
    12

    3
    Sept

    18
    Mar
    13

     

    Total 20 May

    Vote
    ALP

    Vote
    Lib

    Vote Greens

    Work full
    time

    Work part time

    Total likely

    58%

    56%

    51%

    53%

    51%

    48%

    51%

    78%

    28%

    84%

    50%

    47%

    Total unlikely

    21%

    24%

    27%

    22%

    25%

    28%

    27%

    9%

    48%

    7%

    29%

    25%

    Very likely

    28%

    26%

    22%

    26%

    23%

    25%

    26%

    49%

    5%

    57%

    25%

    19%

    Quite likely

    30%

    30%

    29%

    27%

    28%

    23%

    25%

    29%

    23%

    27%

    25%

    28%

    Not very likely

    18%

    18%

    19%

    16%

    18%

    19%

    16%

    5%

    29%

    7%

    18%

    14%

    Not at all likely

    3%

    6%

    8%

    6%

    7%

    9%

    11%

    4%

    19%

    11%

    11%

    Don’t know

    20%

    20%

    22%

    26%

    24%

    25%

    23%

    12%

    24%

    9%

    22%

    28%

    Respondents were a little more likely to think that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices than when a similar question was asked in March. 51% (up 3%) think it is likely that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices if they won the next election and 27% (down 1%) think it is unlikely.

    78% (up 11%) of Labor voters and 84% (up 17%) of Greens voters think it is likely, while Liberal/National voters split 28% likely (down 3%) to 48% unlikely (up 4%).

  • May, 2013

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    Concern about Liberals bringing back WorkChoices

    Q. If the Liberals won the election and reintroduced WorkChoices or similar laws, how concerned would you be?  

     

    31 May 10

    12 July

    21 Nov 11

    23 Jul 12

    3
    Sep

    18 Mar 13

    Total 20 May

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib

    Vote Greens

    Work full time

    Work part time

    Very concerned

    28%

    29%

    26%

    30%

    27%

    27%

    26%

    50%

    5%

    62%

    25%

    24%

    Quite concerned

    17%

    19%

    15%

    16%

    15%

    16%

    15%

    22%

    12%

    15%

    16%

    13%

    A little concerned

    20%

    16%

    20%

    15%

    19%

    17%

    17%

    12%

    22%

    5%

    20%

    18%

    Not concerned

    24%

    25%

    27%

    26%

    26%

    25%

    27%

    8%

    48%

    13%

    27%

    25%

    Don’t know

    11%

    11%

    11%

    14%

    13%

    15%

    14%

    8%

    14%

    4%

    11%

    19%

    Concern about the re-introduction of WorkChoices has not changed significantly since this question was last asked in March. 41% (down 2%) would be quite or very concerned if WorkChoices or similar laws were re-introduced and 44% (up 2%) were only a little or not concerned.

    72% of Labor voters and 77% of Greens voters would be concerned. 70% of Liberal/National voters would be a little/not concerned and 17% concerned.  41% of full-time workers and 37% of part-time workers said they would be very/quite concerned.

    45% of those aged 25-64 said they would be very/quite concerned.

  • May, 2013

    , , , ,

    Importance of unions

    Q. And how important are unions for Australian working people today?

     

    19 Mar 2012

    10 Sept 12

    Total

    20 May 13

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Work full time

    Work part time

    Total important

    56%

    52%

    56%

    80%

    38%

    70%

    54%

    57%

    Total not Important

    35%

    38%

    36%

    12%

    59%

    23%

    39%

    36%

    Very important

    19%

    16%

    21%

    35%

    8%

    38%

    18%

    26%

    Quite important

    37%

    36%

    35%

    45%

    30%

    32%

    36%

    31%

    Not very important

    27%

    28%

    24%

    11%

    36%

    18%

    25%

    27%

    Not at all important

    8%

    10%

    12%

    1%

    23%

    5%

    14%

    9%

    Don’t know

    9%

    10%

    8%

    7%

    3%

    7%

    7%

    7%

    The majority of respondents regarded unions to be important for Australian working people today (56%), whilst 36% believe that they were not important.  Belief that they are important increased 4 points from 52% in September 2012 to 56% in this week’s results.

    80% of Labor voters and 70% of Greens voters believed that unions were important for Australian working people today, while Coalition voters were the most likely to regard unions as not important (59%).

    The majority of full time workers (54%) and part time workers (57%) regarded unions as important for Australian working people today.

     

  • May, 2013

    , , ,

    Better or worse off with stronger unions

    Q. Overall, would workers be better off or worse off if unions in Australia were stronger?

    10 Sept 12

    Total

    20 May 13

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Work full time

    Work part time

    Total better off

    39%

    43%

    65%

    28%

    61%

    43%

    44%

    Total worse off

    30%

    29%

    11%

    50%

    10%

    32%

    28%

    A lot better off

    13%

    14%

    23%

    7%

    26%

    15%

    14%

    A little better off

    26%

    29%

    42%

    21%

    35%

    28%

    30%

    A little worse off

    15%

    14%

    9%

    19%

    9%

    15%

    16%

    A lot worse off

    15%

    15%

    2%

    31%

    1%

    17%

    12%

    Make no difference

    15%

    12%

    10%

    12%

    16%

    13%

    11%

    Don’t know

    15%

    14%

    13%

    10%

    12%

    12%

    17%

    The perception that workers would be better off with stronger unions has increased since this question was asked in September last year. 43% (up 4%)  felt that workers would be better off if unions in Australia were stronger and 29% (down 1%) that believed workers would be worse off.

    By voting intention, 65% of Labor voters and 61% of Greens voters believed that workers would be better off while Coalition voters were by far the most likely to believe that workers would be worse off (50%).

    51% of respondents on incomes of $600-$1,000pw thought that workers would be better off with stronger unions.

  • May, 2013

    , , ,

    Penalty rates

    Q. Do you think people who are required to work outside of normal hours – like night shifts, weekends or public holidays – should receive a higher hourly rate of pay?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Yes

    81%

    88%

    74%

    92%

    No

    12%

    7%

    19%

    5%

    Don’t know

    7%

    5%

    7%

    3%

    81% of respondents agreed that people who are required to work outside of normal hours – like night shifts, weekends or public holidays – should receive a higher hourly rate of pay.

    79% of full-time workers and 88% of part-time workers agreed.

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