The Essential Report Archive Read the latest report

  • Sep, 2013

    , , , ,

    Better or worse Government

    Q. After the election the Coalition Government will not have a majority in the Senate – they will need the support of the minor parties and independents to pass legislation. Do you think this will result in a better or worse Government for Australia?

     

    Total

     

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Other party/ Independent

    Total better

    44%

    53%

    32%

    62%

    59%

    Total worse

    30%

    24%

    44%

    20%

    11%

    A lot better

    18%

    25%

    9%

    26%

    33%

    A little better

    26%

    28%

    23%

    36%

    26%

    A little worse

    16%

    10%

    24%

    14%

    6%

    A lot worse

    14%

    14%

    20%

    6%

    5%

    Make no difference

    10%

    10%

    8%

    8%

    18%

    Don’t know

    16%

    13%

    16%

    9%

    12%

    44% think that better Government will result from the Coalition needing the support of minor parties and independents in the Senate while 30% think it will result in worse Government.

    A majority of Labor, Greens and other voters think it will result in better Government while 44% of Liberal/National voters think it will result in worse Government.

  • Sep, 2013

    , , , , , , , ,

    Federal politics – voting intention

    Q. The Federal Election will be held next weekend on 7 September  – to which party will you probably give your first preference in the House of Representatives? If not sure, which party are you currently leaning toward?

    The table below shows weekly figures through the election campaign.

    First preference/leaning to

    Election

    21 Aug 10

     

    5/8/13

    13/8/13

    19/8/13

    26/8/13

    2/9/13

    5/9/13

     

     

    Liberal National

    43.6%

    43%

    44%

    43%

    43%

    44%

    43%

    Labor

    38.0%

    37%

    41%

    39%

    36%

    35%

    35%

    Greens

    11.8%

    10%

    7%

    9%

    11%

    10%

    10%

    Other/Independent

    6.6%

    11%

    9%

    8%

    10%

    11%

    12%

     

    2 Party Preferred

    Election

    21 Aug 10

     

    5/8/13

    13/8/13

    19/8/13

    26/8/13

    2/9/13

    5/9/13

    Liberal National

    49.9%

    51%

    50%

    50%

    51%

    53%

    52%

    Labor

    50.1%

    49%

    50%

    50%

    49%

    47%

    48%

    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.

  • Sep, 2013

    , , , ,

    Opinion of Kevin Rudd

    Q. Since the election was called has your opinion of Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party gone up or down?

     

    Total

     

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total gone up

    16%

    33%

    6%

    9%

    Total gone down

    40%

    12%

    65%

    42%

    Gone up a lot

    7%

    16%

    2%

    6%

    Gone up a little

    9%

    17%

    4%

    3%

    Stayed the same

    38%

    53%

    26%

    47%

    Gone down a little

    14%

    9%

    16%

    25%

    Gone down a lot

    26%

    3%

    49%

    17%

    Don’t know

    5%

    2%

    3%

    2%

    16% say their opinion of Kevin Rudd has gone up since the election was called and 40% say it has gone down. Views follow party preferences with 65% of Liberal/national voters saying their opinion of Kevin Rudd had gone down and 33% of Labor voters saying their opinion had gone up. Greens voters opinions were more likely to have gone down.

  • Sep, 2013

    , , ,

    Weekly voting intention

    The following tables show the weekly voting intention since the election was called.

    First preference/leaning to

    Election

    21 Aug 10

     

    4 weeks ago

    5/8/13

    3 weeks ago

    13/8/13

    2 weeks ago

    19/8/13

    Last week

    26/8/13

    This week

    2/9/13

    Sample

     

    973

    926

    976

    938

    918

     

    Liberal National

    43.6%

    43%

    44%

    43%

    43%

    44%

    Labor

    38.0%

    37%

    41%

    39%

    36%

    35%

    Greens

    11.8%

    10%

    7%

    9%

    11%

    10%

    Other/Independent

    6.6%

    11%

    9%

    8%

    10%

    11%

     

    2 Party Preferred

    Election

    21 Aug 10

     

    4 weeks ago

    5/8/13

    3 weeks ago

    13/8/13

    2 weeks ago

    19/8/13

    Last week

    26/8/13

    This week

    2/9/13

    Liberal National

    49.9%

    51%

    50%

    50%

    51%

    53%

    Labor

    50.1%

    49%

    50%

    50%

    49%

    47%

     

  • Aug, 2013

    , , , ,

    Voting decision

    Q. Thinking about the Federal election to be held this year, when do you expect you will make your final decision about who you will vote for?

     

    Total

     

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Other party

    Don’t know

    I have already decided

    53%

    55%

    69%

    36%

    29%

    8%

    During the election campaign

    15%

    19%

    12%

    24%

    18%

    6%

    In the last week before the election

    12%

    11%

    9%

    15%

    25%

    7%

    The day before the election

    3%

    4%

    2%

    9%

    1%

    2%

    On the day of the election

    8%

    7%

    4%

    9%

    20%

    18%

    Don’t know

    9%

    5%

    4%

    8%

    7%

    60%

    53% say they have already decided who they will be voting for in the Federal election, 30% will finally make up their mind at some stage before election day and 8% will decide on election day.

    Those least likely to have made up their mind were aged 18-24 (33%), Greens voters (36%), other party/independent voters (29%) and respondents with university education (48%).

  • Jul, 2013

    , , , , , ,

    Involvement in politics

    Q. Thinking about Federal politics and the election, which of the following have you personally done in the last week?

     

     

    Total

     

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Seen any TV advertising by political parties

    43%

    46%

    44%

    38%

    Received printed material from candidates.

    27%

    26%

    27%

    35%

    Read about Federal politics in a newspaper

    41%

    43%

    43%

    39%

    Watched Federal politicians on TV

    56%

    63%

    54%

    57%

    Listened to Federal politicians on the radio

    22%

    21%

    22%

    32%

    Listened to commentators talking about Federal politics on the radio

    30%

    32%

    29%

    34%

    Watched commentators talking about Federal politics on the TV

    48%

    54%

    47%

    47%

    Read anything about Federal politics on the internet

    39%

    47%

    33%

    49%

    Discussed Federal politics and the election with friends or family

    50%

    56%

    46%

    60%

    TV was the most common way for respondents to engage with politics over the past week. 56% said they had watched Federal politicians on TV and 48% had watched commentators talking about Federal politics on TV.

    Labor voters were more likely to watch politicians (63%) or commentators (54%) on TV and also more likely to use the internet to read about politics (47%).

    There were some substantial differences by age group – 30% of respondents aged under 35 read about politics in a newspaper compared to 57% of those aged 55+ and 42% of aged under 35 watched politicians on TV compared to 71% of aged 55+.

Error: