The Essential Report Archive Read the latest report

  • Feb, 2011

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    Liberal Party Support for Healthcare Agreement

    Q. Do you think Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party should support or oppose this health care agreement between the Federal and State Governments?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Should support 51% 72% 36% 69%
    Should oppose 11% 2% 20% 6%
    Should neither support nor oppose 10% 5% 16% 4%
    Don’t know 28% 20% 28% 20%

    Half the respondents thought Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party should support the health care agreement and only 11% thought they should oppose it. Only 20% of Liberal/National voters thought Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party should oppose it – 36% though they should support it and 44% thought they should do neither or had no opinion.

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  • Feb, 2011

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    Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd

    Q. Do you think that Julia Gillard has been a better or a worse leader than Kevin Rudd?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Total better 28% 47% 13% 30%
    Total worse 33% 18% 48% 35%
    A lot better 7% 15% 2% 3%
    A little better 21% 32% 11% 27%
    No difference 33% 32% 37% 30%
    A little worse 15% 10% 17% 23%
    A lot worse 18% 8% 31% 12%
    Don’t know 6% 3% 2% 5%

    Overall, respondents were split over whether Julia Gillard has been a better or worse leader than Kevin Rudd – 28% thought she had been better, 33% worse and 33% no different.

    Labor voters were more likely to think she had been better (47%/18%) while Liberal/National voters though she had been worse (13%/48%). Greens voters were split 30% better/35% worse and 30% no different.

    By gender – men split 24% better/37% worse compared to women 31% better/29% worse.

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  • Feb, 2011

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    Taxing Mining Company Profits

    Q. Would you approve or disapprove of higher taxes on the profits of large mining companies?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Total approve 56% 75% 36% 83%
    Total disapprove 27% 13% 49% 6%
    Strongly approve 21% 32% 6% 46%
    Approve 35% 43% 30% 37%
    Disapprove 20% 11% 35% 4%
    Strongly disapprove 7% 2% 14% 2%
    Don’t know 17% 13% 15% 11%

    There was majority approval of higher taxes on the profits of large mining companies – 56% approved and 27% disapproved. Labor and Greens voters showed very high approval while Liberal/National voters split 36% approve/49% disapprove.

    There were no significant differences by demographic groupings (age/income/work status).

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  • Feb, 2011

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    Taxing Mining Company Profits

    Q. Would you approve or disapprove of higher taxes on the profits of large mining companies if the funds raised were used to provide higher superannuation for all workers?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Total approve 56% 68% 44% 84%
    Total disapprove 24% 14% 39% 8%
    Strongly approve 20% 33% 8% 37%
    Approve 36% 35% 36% 47%
    Disapprove 16% 11% 25% 4%
    Strongly disapprove 8% 3% 14% 4%
    Don’t know 20% 18% 17% 8%

    When asked whether they approved of higher taxes on the profits of large mining companies if the funds raised were used to provide higher superannuation for all workers, 56% approved (no change) and 24% disapproved (down 3%).

    Labor voters were slightly less supportive if the funds were tied to super increases (approval down 7%) while Liberal/National voters were more supportive (approval up 8% and disapproval down 10%).

    Full-time workers split 58% approve/27% disapprove, part-time workers 57% approve/17% disapprove and those not working 53% approve/25% disapprove. Highest disapproval was shown by workers earning over $1,600 per week – 56% approved but 32% disapproved.

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  • Feb, 2011

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    Memo Tony: Shit’s happening

    First published on The Drum: 15/02/2011

    That philosopher to the common-folk, Tony Abbott, is this week dealing with his own slings and arrows as he enters the political twilight zone of disapproval from which some never return.

    Despite ongoing difficulties within the Labor Government, Abbott is showing no signs of establishing himself as anything more than an attack dog whose fortunes rise when he runs negative on issues that happen to also be currently unpopular with the public.

    This leaves him exposed when he has a bad week, such as the past one when he split his front bench by attempting to come up with a way of paying for flood reconstruction by cutting back anti-terrorism programs before nearly jobbing a TV reporter.

    As this week’s Essential Report shows the response has been a sharp rise in disapproval to 46 per cent and drop-off in approvals to 37 per cent. To put this into perspective, the ALP moved on Kevin Rudd when his disapproval rating hit 47 per cent, with 41 per cent approval.

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?

    18 Jan 29 Mar 5 Jul 16 Aug 20 Sep 18 Oct 22 Nov 20 Dec 17 Jan 2011 14 Feb 2011
    Total approve 37% 33% 37% 41% 43% 39% 40% 39% 42% 38%
    Total disapprove 37% 50% 47% 44% 37% 45% 40% 39% 37% 46%
    Strongly approve 5% 8% 8% 9% 12% 8% 6% 9% 7% 8%
    Approve 32% 25% 29% 32% 31% 31% 34% 30% 35% 30%
    Disapprove 20% 28% 23% 22% 21% 22% 22% 21% 22% 24%
    Strongly disapprove 17% 22% 24% 22% 16% 23% 18% 18% 15% 22%
    Don’t know 26% 16% 16% 15% 19% 17% 19% 22% 20% 16%

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  • Feb, 2011

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    Responsibility for Hospitals

    Q. Would you support or oppose the Federal Government taking over the responsibility for hospitals from the State Governments? (Question commissioned by Network Ten)

    14 Feb 2011 Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens 15 Feb 2010
    Total support 48% 56% 48% 45% 58%
    Total oppose 14% 12% 19% 12% 10%
    Strongly support 21% 28% 18% 21% 26%
    Support 27% 28% 30% 24% 32%
    Neither support nor oppose 22% 22% 20% 21% 19%
    Oppose 9% 9% 12% 6% 7%
    Strongly oppose 5% 3% 7% 6% 3%
    Don’t know 16% 10% 12% 21% 13%

    48% support the Federal Government taking over the responsibility for hospitals from the State Governments and 14% oppose. This is a significant weakening in support since this question was asked in February last year.

    However, a majority of Labor voters still support a Federal take-over, as do nearly half the Coalition and Greens voters.

    Older voters were more likely to support a Federal take-over of hospitals – aged under 35’s split 37% support/14% oppose compared to aged 55+ at 52% support/20% oppose.

    Download the Network Ten Essential Question of the Week. (661 KB pdf)

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  • Feb, 2011

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    Federal politics – 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 = 1,906

    First preference/leaning to Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago 2 weeks ago Last week This week
    Liberal 43% 42% 43% 41%
    National 3% 3% 3% 3%
    Total Lib/Nat 43.6 46% 45% 46% 44%
    Labor 38.0 38% 37% 38% 40%
    Greens 11.8 10% 11% 10% 10%
    Other/Independent 6.6 6% 7% 7% 6%
    2PP Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago 2 weeks ago Last week This week
    Total Lib/Nat 49.9% 52% 51% 51% 50%
    Labor 50.1% 48% 49% 49% 50%

    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.

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  • Feb, 2011

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    Approval of Julia Gillard

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister?

    Kevin Rudd Julia Gillard
    31 May 5 Jul 19 Jul 16 Aug 20 Sep 18 Oct 22 Nov 20 Dec 17 Jan 2011 14 Feb 2011
    Total approve 41% 48% 52% 46% 45% 45% 43% 43% 51% 48%
    Total disapprove 47% 27% 30% 40% 37% 37% 38% 40% 36% 41%
    Strongly approve 7% 14% 11% 13% 12% 10% 7% 10% 8% 9%
    Approve 34% 34% 41% 33% 33% 36% 36% 33% 43% 39%
    Disapprove 25% 13% 17% 24% 21% 20% 23% 24% 24% 25%
    Strongly disapprove 22% 14% 13% 16% 16% 17% 15% 16% 12% 16%
    Don’t know 12% 26% 18% 13% 19% 18% 18% 17% 14% 11%

    48% (down 3%) approve of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister and 41% (up 5%) disapprove – a change in net rating from +15 to +7 over the last 4 weeks.

    88% of Labor voters approve and 8% disapprove.

    By gender – men 45% approve/45% disapprove, women 51% approve/36% disapprove.

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