18 June 2012, 180612, Australian economy, right direction, wrong direction
Q. Overall, from what you have read and heard, do you think the Australian economy is heading in the right direction or the wrong direction?
|
17 May 10 (Post 2010 budget) |
9 May 11 (Post 2011 budget) |
4 Jul 11 |
26 Mar 12 |
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Liberal/ National |
Vote Greens |
|
| The right direction |
51% |
45% |
37% |
36% |
43% |
71% |
26% |
63% |
| The wrong direction |
25% |
29% |
43% |
41% |
32% |
7% |
53% |
14% |
| Don’t know |
24% |
25% |
20% |
22% |
25% |
23% |
20% |
23% |
43% of respondents think that Australia’s economy is heading in the right direction – 32% think it is heading in the wrong direction. Since this question was last asked in March, “right direction” has increased 7% and “wrong direction” declined 9%.
71% (up 6%) of Labor voters, 26% (up 7%) of Liberal/National voters and 63% (up 16%) of Greens voters think the economy is heading in the right direction. There were no major differences across demographic groups except for the 18-34 years group where 47% thought the economy was heading in the right direction and 25% in the wrong direction.
04 June 2012, 040612, 3Q Ep 14, Australian economy, Coalition, Financial Assistance, inflation, Interest rates, Labor Party, peter lewis, public opinion, unemployment
Labor takes pride in being there for those up against hard luck. Targeted financial assistance comes in many forms, whether co-investment to an auto industry being hammered by the two-speed economy, childcare rebates to hard-up families, or the straight cash injection into middle Australian wallets.
It appears there is a new victim of the Australian economy in need of a rescue package: the Coalition voter.
With interest rates, inflation and unemployment all under the 5 per cent threshold, Australia is bucking the global trend in maintaining stability in the face of global unrest. But our polling this week shows only around one third of Australians are prepared to say the economy is performing well.
And while many are unimpressed with Australia’s performance, Coalition voters – and that’s a lot of people these days – are feeling the economic pain more intensely.
Read more on this at the Drum
04 June 2012, 040612, Australian economy, corporations, economic reform, ordinary australians, Telstra
Q. Thinking about the major economic reform in Australia since the 1980s like floating the dollar, removing tariffs and privatisation of Government services like Telstra and utilities, who do you think has benefited most – ordinary Australians through higher incomes and more growth and jobs, or corporations through higher profits and less regulation?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Ordinary Australians |
5% |
8% |
4% |
6% |
| Corporations |
54% |
51% |
55% |
62% |
| Both equally |
20% |
19% |
25% |
16% |
| Don’t know |
21% |
22% |
17% |
16% |
54% thought that corporations have benefited most from Australia’s major economic reforms – only 5% think ordinary Australians have benefited most and 20% thought both had benefited equally.
Those most likely to think corporations had benefited most were Greens voters (62%), aged 55+ (60%) and those on incomes under $600pw (61%).
28 May 2012, 280512, Australian economy, Greens, income, Labor, Liberals
Q. Overall, how would you describe the current state of the Australian economy?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Total good |
35% |
56% |
24% |
54% |
| Total poor |
29% |
13% |
42% |
18% |
| Very good |
6% |
13% |
2% |
17% |
| Good |
29% |
43% |
22% |
37% |
| Neither good nor poor |
33% |
30% |
33% |
28% |
| Poor |
20% |
9% |
29% |
14% |
| Very poor |
9% |
4% |
13% |
4% |
| Don’t know |
2% |
2% |
* |
1% |
35% described the economy as good or very good and 29% poor/very poor – 33% said it was neither.
Those most likely to think the economy was good/very good were aged 18-34 (41%) and people with incomes over $1,600pw (44%).
Those most likely to think the economy was poor/very poor were aged 55+ (34%) and people with incomes of $600-$1,000pw (36%).
28 May 2012, 280512, Australian economy, inflation, Interest rates, unemployement
Q. Some say that official figures show Australia’s economy is doing very well, especially compared to the rest of the world. The interest rate, the unemployment rate and the inflation rate are all less than 5%. Do you agree or disagree that this shows the state of the economy is good?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Total agree |
52% |
75% |
39% |
70% |
| Total disagree |
37% |
17% |
54% |
23% |
| Strongly agree |
9% |
20% |
3% |
16% |
| Agree |
43% |
55% |
36% |
54% |
| Disagree |
27% |
12% |
39% |
17% |
| Strongly disagree |
10% |
5% |
15% |
6% |
| Don’t know |
10% |
7% |
7% |
8 |
When told that official figures show Australia’s economy is doing well, 52% agreed and 37% disagreed.
Those most likely to disagree were Liberal/National voters (54%), aged 45+ (45%) and people with incomes of $600-$1,000pw (43%).
28 May 2012, 280512, Australian economy, Australian Government, Carbon Tax, Craig Thompson, Julia Gillard, kevin rudd, Mining Boom, Peter Slipper
Q. Although Australia’s economy is doing very well, according to opinion polls the Government is very unpopular. What do you think is the main reason for this? *
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Voters don’t trust the Prime Minister |
28% |
21% |
35% |
44% |
| The carbon tax will increase the cost of living |
17% |
17% |
19% |
8% |
| The economy is doing well for other reasons, like China and the mining boom, not because of the government |
15% |
13% |
19% |
5% |
| Voters are still angry about the treatment of Kevin Rudd. |
12% |
18% |
6% |
14% |
| Voters aren’t benefiting from the strong economy. |
12% |
10% |
14% |
8% |
| The government looks sleazy because of Craig Thomson and Peter Slipper. |
4% |
5% |
3% |
8% |
| Some other reason |
8% |
12% |
3% |
11% |
| Don’t know |
3% |
5% |
1% |
3 |
* Based on those who agree the economy is good.
Respondents who thought the economy was doing well, thought the main reasons for the Government’s unpopularity were that voters don’t trust the Prime Minister (28%), that the carbon tax will increase the cost of living (17%) and that the economy is doing well for other reasons, not because of the Government (15%).
Both Liberal/National and Greens voters said trust in the Prime Minister was the key issue, while Labor voters were somewhat more likely to nominate anger over the treatment of Kevin Rudd.
21 May 12, 210512, Australian economy, Australian industries, Australian jobs, Mining Boom
Q. Has the mining boom been good or bad for –
|
Total good |
Total bad |
Very good |
Good |
Neither good nor bad |
Bad |
Very bad |
Don’t know |
|
| The economy generally |
75% |
7% |
30% |
45% |
12% |
5% |
2% |
6% |
| Other Australian industries |
50% |
16% |
12% |
38% |
26% |
12% |
4% |
9% |
| Jobs generally |
61% |
12% |
16% |
45% |
21% |
9% |
3% |
7% |
| You personally |
21% |
10% |
6% |
15% |
60% |
7% |
3% |
9% |
A substantial majority think that the mining boom has been good for the economy generally (75%) and jobs generally (61%). 50% think that it has been good for other Australian industries.
However, most (60%) think it has been neither good nor bad for themselves personally – 21% think it has been good and 10% bad.
Those most likely to think the mining boom had been good for them personally were aged 25-34 (31%), full-time workers (26%) and those on incomes over $1,600pw (27%).
07 May 2012, 070512, Australian economy, economic comparison, economy, Polling, polls, world economy
Q. Thinking about the state of the world economy, how do you think the Australian economy has performed over the last few years compared to other countries?
|
15 Aug 11 |
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Total better |
70% |
66% |
80% |
60% |
73% |
| Total worse |
10% |
15% |
8% |
19% |
10% |
| A lot better |
31% |
29% |
49% |
19% |
38% |
| A little better |
39% |
37% |
31% |
41% |
35% |
| About the same |
16% |
16% |
12% |
20% |
17% |
| A little worse |
7% |
9% |
6% |
10% |
8% |
| A lot worse |
3% |
6% |
2% |
9% |
2% |
| Don’t know |
3% |
3% |
1% |
1% |
1% |
66% think that Australia’s economy has performed better than other countries over the last few years, 16% say about the same and 15% think it has been worse. This represents a shift from net +60 to net +51 since this question was previous asked in August last year.
There were no substantial differences across demographic groups although those on higher incomes are a little more likely to believe it has performed better – 71% of those on incomes over $1,600pw compared to 61% of those earning under $1,000pw.