30 April 2012, 300412, assistance, entitlement, Government assistance, Joe Hockey, Polling, polls, Shadow Treasurer
Q. The Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey recently said people in Western countries have an attitude of “entitlement” and expect the Government to provide assistance and subsidies for things like education, health, income support, retirement benefits, unemployment benefits. Do you agree or disagree that people in Australia receive too much Government assistance?
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
Total agree |
39% |
27% |
54% |
19% |
Total disagree |
33% |
55% |
20% |
58% |
Strongly agree |
14% |
10% |
21% |
3% |
Agree |
25% |
17% |
33% |
16% |
Neither agree nor disagree |
23% |
21% |
23% |
23% |
Disagree |
18% |
22% |
13% |
31% |
Strongly disagree |
15% |
23% |
7% |
27% |
Don’t know |
5% |
7% |
3% |
– |
Respondents were somewhat evenly split on their response to this question – 39% agree that people in Australia receive too much Government assistance while 33% disagree.
23% neither agree nor disagree and 5% don’t know.
Lib/Nat voters were significantly more likely to agree that people in Australia receive too much Government assistance (54%). Labor (55%) and Green (58%) voters were more likely to disagree.
Males (44%) were far more likely than females (32%) to agree that people in Australia receive too much Government assistance.
Those aged 65+ were also more likely to agree with this statement (48%), however those aged 55-64 were less likely (34%).