Buddhism, Christianity, EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Greens, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Labor, Liberal, Muslim, Polling, polls, Religion, Religion Issues
Q. Which of the following religions do you think has grown the fastest in Australia during the 10 years between 1996 and 2006, when the last national census was taken?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Christianity (including Catholic, Uniting Church, Anglican, etc) | 8% | 7% | 11% | 7% |
| Hinduism | 3% | 2% | 3% | 4% |
| Islam (Muslim) | 57% | 58% | 64% | 50% |
| Buddhism | 5% | 3% | 4% | 11% |
| Judaism (Jewish) | * | 1% | – | – |
| Don’t know/Refuse | 27% | 29% | 19% | 27% |
57% believe that Islam is the fastest growing religion in Australia. This perception is broadly similar across all age/gender groups – although a little higher for Liberal/National voters (64%) and those aged 55+ (65%).
EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Greens, Islam, Labor, Liberal, Muslim, Muslims, Polling, polls, Religion, Religion Issues
Q. What percentage of Australian residents do you think are Muslim?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| 1% | 6% | 6% | 7% | 8% |
| 2% | 11% | 10% | 14% | 9% |
| 3-5% | 26% | 26% | 25% | 37% |
| 6-10% | 20% | 19% | 22% | 18% |
| More than 10% | 19% | 20% | 19% | 17% |
| Don’t know | 18% | 20% | 13% | 11% |
17% think that Muslims make up 1-2% of Australia’s population, 26% think they make up 3-5% and 39% think it is over 5%. The actual figure is 1.7% – meaning 65% have over-estimated the number of Muslims in Australia.
There were only minor differences between age, gender and voter groups.
Buddhism, EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Greens, Hinduism, Islam, Labor, Liberal, Muslim, Muslims, Polling, polls, Religion, Religion Issues
Q. The 2006 Census figures show that in fact the fastest growing religions in Australia are Hinduism, Buddhism and then Islam. Presently, only 1.71% of the Australian population identifies as Muslim. In light of this information, how concerned are you about the number of Muslim people in Australia?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total concerned | 50% | 43% | 62% | 22% |
| Total not concerned | 45% | 54% | 35% | 76% |
| Very Concerned | 22% | 18% | 29% | 11% |
| Somewhat concerned | 28% | 25% | 33% | 11% |
| Not very concerned | 26% | 27% | 24% | 32% |
| Not at all concerned | 19% | 27% | 11% | 44% |
| Don’t know | 5% | 4% | 4% | 1% |
After being given some information about the number of Muslims in Australia, 50% said they were still very/somewhat concerned and 45% said they were not very or not at all concerned. This represents a 7% fall in level of concern from the question asked before this information was given to respondents.
All demographic and voter groups showed a similar fall in level of concern.
EMC, ER, Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Polling, polls, Race, Race issues, Racism, Religion, Religion Issues
Q. Do you think some politicians raise issues of race and religion for political purposes just to generate votes or do you think these politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Some politicians raise issues of race and religion for political purposes just to generate votes | 61% | 66% | 55% | 80% |
| These politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future | 27% | 21% | 37% | 14% |
| Don’t know | 12% | 12% | 7% | 5% |
61% believed that some politicians raise issues of race and religion for political purposes just to generate votes and 27% thought these politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future.
Those most likely to think these politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future were Liberal/National voters (37%) – and among people aged 55+, 34% thought these politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future and 58% thought they use race and religion for political purposes.
EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Question, Essential Report, Federal Leaders, Julia Gillard, Network 10, Network Ten, Polling, polls, tony abbott, trust in leaders
Q. Who do you trust most to deliver good policies for Australia’s future?
(Question commissioned by Network Ten)
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Julia Gillard | 40% | 81% | 5% | 62% |
| Tony Abbott | 31% | 1% | 72% | 2% |
| Don’t know | 29% | 18% | 23% | 36% |
40% have most trust in Julia Gillard to deliver good policies for Australia’s future and 31% trust Tony Abbott most.
Opinions closely follow party preference although Julia Gillard is overwhelmingly trusted more by Greens voters (62% to 2%).
Women are less trusting of Tony Abbott – 40% of men trust Julia Gillard and 36% trust Tony Abbott while 41% of women trust Julia Gillard and only 26% trust Tony Abbott.
Younger people are also less likely to trust Tony Abbott – those aged 55+ trust Tony Abbott (44%) more than Julia Gillard (36%) while those aged under 35 trust Julia Gillard more (42% Gillard/24% Abbott).
Download the Network Ten Essential Question of the Week. (1.1 MB pdf)
2PP, Election, EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, federal politics, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Polling, polls, two party preferred, 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 = 1,913
| First preference/leaning to | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Liberal | 42% | 43% | 41% | 40% | |
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |
| Total Lib/Nat | 43.6 | 45% | 46% | 44% | 43% |
| Labor | 38.0 | 37% | 38% | 40% | 39% |
| Greens | 11.8 | 11% | 10% | 10% | 11% |
| Other/Independent | 6.6 | 7% | 7% | 6% | 7% |
| 2PP | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Total Lib/Nat | 49.9% | 51% | 51% | 50% | 49% |
| Labor | 50.1% | 49% | 49% | 50% | 51% |
NB. The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived 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.
Approval of Healthcare Agreement, EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Healthcare, Healthcare Agreement, healthcare system, Labor, Liberal, Liberal Party, Polling, polls
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the recent agreement between the Federal and State Governments for the Federal Government to provide 50% of growth funding for Australia’s healthcare system?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total approve | 67% | 81% | 62% | 74% |
| Total disapprove | 9% | 4% | 15% | 4% |
| Strongly approve | 18% | 31% | 10% | 25% |
| Approve | 49% | 50% | 52% | 49% |
| Disapprove | 6% | 4% | 10% | 3% |
| Strongly disapprove | 3% | * | 5% | 1% |
| Don’t know | 24% | 15% | 24% | 21% |
Two-thirds of respondents approved of the recent agreement between the Federal and State Governments for the Federal Government to provide 50% of growth funding for Australia’s healthcare system and only 9% disapproved. All voter groups showed strong majority approval.
Older people were more supportive than younger people – 71% of those aged 55+ approved compared to 60% of those aged under 18-35. By state, Victoria had the highest approval at 72%.
EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Greens, Healthcare, Healthcare Agreement, healthcare system, Impact of Healthcare Agreement, Labor, Liberal, Polling, polls
Q. Do you think this funding agreement will result in a better or a worse healthcare system or will it make no difference?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total better | 49% | 67% | 39% | 65% |
| Total worse/no difference | 34% | 20% | 49% | 20% |
| A lot better | 8% | 16% | 4% | 8% |
| A little better | 41% | 51% | 35% | 57% |
| Make no difference | 28% | 19% | 38% | 18% |
| A little worse | 3% | 1% | 5% | 1% |
| A lot worse | 3% | * | 6% | 1% |
| Don’t know | 16% | 13% | 12% | 16% |
About half the respondents thought the agreement will result in a better healthcare system. Two thirds of Labor and Greens voters thought it would result in a better system but Liberal/National voters were more likely to think it would make no difference or be worse.
Although showing higher approval of the agreement, older people were more likely to think it would make no difference or be worse – those aged 45+ were split 49% better/40% no difference or worse compared to aged 18-44 at 50% better/29% no difference or worse.