Q. Which party has the best policy for handling the issue of asylum seekers arriving by boat?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Jun 2013 | |||
| Labor | 12% | 32% | 2% | 4% | 1% | 13% | ||
| Liberal | 37% | 11% | 78% | 4% | 32% | 38% | ||
| Greens | 8% | 7% | 3% | 55% | 6% | 7% | ||
| None of them | 24% | 29% | 11% | 27% | 41% | 31% | ||
| Don’t know | 19% | 21% | 6% | 9% | 19% | 11% |
37% think the Liberal Party has the best policy for handling the issue of asylum seekers arriving by boat and 12% think the Labor Party has the best policy. 24% think no party has the best policy. These results are very similar to those from June 2013.
Only 32% of Labor voters think the Labor Party has the best policy compared with 78% of Liberal/National voters who think the Liberals have the best policy.
Of those who think the asylum seeker issue is one of or the most important election issue, 46% think that the Liberals have the best policy, 15% think Labor has the best policy, 12% think the Greens have the best policy and 14% think none of them do.
approach to asylum seekers, asylum seeker issue, asylum seeker policy
Q. Which of the following words would you use to describe the Government’s handling of the issue of asylum seekers?
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote Other |
|
Men |
Women |
Aged 18-34 |
Aged 35-54 |
Aged 55+ |
|
| Responsible |
45% |
26% |
75% |
14% |
42% |
50% |
40% |
30% |
43% |
64% |
||
| Fair |
45% |
25% |
76% |
10% |
44% |
48% |
41% |
29% |
43% |
66% |
||
| Too secretive |
45% |
69% |
16% |
75% |
54% |
44% |
46% |
50% |
45% |
40% |
||
| Just playing politics |
45% |
65% |
20% |
66% |
56% |
48% |
41% |
51% |
45% |
36% |
||
| Principled |
43% |
28% |
69% |
25% |
29% |
49% |
36% |
30% |
45% |
54% |
||
| Stubborn |
42% |
57% |
24% |
72% |
44% |
43% |
41% |
47% |
39% |
42% |
||
| Balanced |
37% |
20% |
65% |
13% |
26% |
42% |
32% |
23% |
37% |
54% |
||
| Unethical |
33% |
50% |
10% |
69% |
37% |
32% |
35% |
41% |
32% |
26% |
||
| Populist |
31% |
38% |
23% |
37% |
37% |
36% |
25% |
28% |
33% |
31% |
||
| Cruel |
30% |
46% |
10% |
64% |
34% |
29% |
32% |
39% |
29% |
23% |
||
| Too hard |
29% |
44% |
10% |
61% |
32% |
27% |
31% |
36% |
28% |
23% |
||
| Too soft |
26% |
22% |
30% |
12% |
37% |
29% |
24% |
19% |
27% |
34% |
Respondents were more likely to describe the Government’s handling of the issue of asylum seekers as “responsible” and “fair” but also as “too secretive” and “just playing politics” (all 45%). 26% describe their handling of the issue as “too soft”, 29% as “too hard” and 30% as “cruel”.
Liberal/National voters were most likely to think the handling was “fair” (76%) and “responsible” (75%).
Labor voters were most likely to think the handling was “too secretive” (69%) and “just playing politics” (65%).
Greens voters were most likely to think the handling was “too secretive” (75%), “stubborn” (72%) and “unethical” (69%).
Of those aged under 35, only 23% thought the handling of the issue was “balanced” and 29% thought it was “fair”.
asylum seeker issue, asylum seeker policy
Q. How would you rate the performance of the Federal Liberal/National Government in handling the issue of asylum seekers arriving by boat?
|
Total
|
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
5 Mar |
|
| Total good |
41% |
19% |
76% |
8% |
41% |
39% |
||
| Total poor |
35% |
54% |
7% |
74% |
34% |
38% |
||
| Very good |
24% |
6% |
52% |
6% |
21% |
18% |
||
| Good |
17% |
13% |
24% |
2% |
20% |
21% |
||
| Neither good nor poor |
18% |
20% |
14% |
10% |
21% |
18% |
||
| Poor |
12% |
20% |
4% |
6% |
15% |
15% |
||
| Very poor |
23% |
34% |
3% |
68% |
19% |
23% |
||
| Don’t know |
7% |
8% |
2% |
7% |
4% |
5% |
41% (up 2% since March) think the Government’s performance in handling the issue of asylum seekers arriving by boat has been good and 35% (down 3%) think it has been poor.
Those most likely to think it has been good were Liberal/National voters (76%) and aged 55+ (54%).
Those most likely to think it has been poor were Labor voters (54%) and Greens voters (74%).
approach to asylum seekers, asy, asylum seeker policy
Q. Do you think the Federal Liberal/National Government is too tough or too soft on asylum seekers or is it taking the right approach?
|
|
Total
|
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
Oct 10 |
Jul 12 |
Jan 14 |
Mar 14 |
| Too tough |
27% |
46% |
5% |
71% |
21% |
7% |
12% |
22% |
25% |
||
| Too soft |
18% |
17% |
20% |
8% |
24% |
63% |
60% |
25% |
28% |
||
| Taking the right approach |
36% |
19% |
65% |
7% |
37% |
18% |
11% |
35% |
34% |
||
| Don’t know |
18% |
19% |
9% |
14% |
17% |
12% |
17% |
18% |
13% |
18% think the Government is too soft on asylum seekers, 27% think they are too tough and 36% think they are taking the right approach.
Since this question was last asked in March, those thinking the Government are too tough has increased slightly from 25% to 27% – while too soft has declined from 28% to 18%. Those unable to give an opinion has increased from 13% to 18%.
Those most likely to think they are taking the right approach were Liberal/National voters (65%) and aged 55+ (52%).
29 July 2013, 290713, approach to asylum seekers, asylum seeker policy
Q. Which party has the best policy for handling the issue of asylum seekers arriving by boat?
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
17 Jun 13 |
|
| Labor |
25% |
58% |
4% |
10% |
13% |
||
| Liberal |
26% |
3% |
57% |
2% |
38% |
||
| Greens |
6% |
5% |
1% |
44% |
7% |
||
| None of them |
28% |
21% |
25% |
29% |
31% |
||
| Don’t know |
15% |
13% |
13% |
15% |
11% |
26% (down 12% since June) think the Liberal Party has the best policy for handling the issue of asylum seekers arriving by boat and 25% (up 12%) think the Labor Party has the best policy. 28% think no party has the best policy.
58% (up 22%) of Labor voters think the Labor Party has the best policy compared with 57% (down 17%) of Liberal/National voters who think the Liberals have the best policy.
Of those who think the asylum seeker issue is one of or the most important election issue, 35% think that Labor has the best policy, 29% think the Liberals have the best policy and 17% think none of them do.
02 July 2012, 020712, asylum seeker policy, labor policy, liberal policy, offshore processing malaysia, offshore processing Nauru, onshore processing australia
Q. Thinking about handling the issue of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat, which approach do you favour?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| The Labor policy of offshore processing in Malaysia |
18% |
44% |
3% |
17% |
| The Liberal policy of offshore processing in Nauru |
35% |
8% |
68% |
2% |
| The Greens policy of onshore processing in Australia |
14% |
15% |
6% |
57% |
| None of above |
16% |
14% |
12% |
14% |
| Don’t know |
17% |
18% |
11% |
9% |
The Liberal’s policy of offshore processing asylum seekers in Nauru was the most preferred option (35%). 18% favoured the Labor policy of offshore processing in Malaysia and 14% favoured the Greens’ policy of onshore processing in Australia.
A majority of Liberal/National voters and Greens voters favoured their own party’s policy but only 44% of Labor voters favoured the Labor policy.
The Liberal’s policy was favoured by 41% of men and 47% of those aged 55+.