Australian economy, Essential Report, financial situation, GFC, global financial crisis
Q. How concerned are you about the impact of current movements in the share market on your financial situation?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Income les than $600pw | Income $600-$1,000pw | Income $1,000-$1,600pw | Income over $1,600pw | |
| Very concerned | 16% | 13% | 21% | 6% | 12% | 17% | 16% | 16% |
| Somewhat concerned | 23% | 22% | 25% | 12% | 16% | 28% | 25% | 23% |
| A little concerned | 29% | 30% | 30% | 28% | 29% | 26% | 30% | 28% |
| Not at all concerned | 26% | 28% | 20% | 47% | 33% | 24% | 23% | 28% |
| Don’t know | 7% | 7% | 4% | 7% | 9% | 5% | 6% | 6% |
16% said they were very concerned and 23% somewhat concerned about the impact of current movements in the share market on your financial situation. 55% were only a little or not at all concerned.
Apart from those on very low incomes, there was not much difference across income groups – 28% of those earning under $600pw were very/somewhat concerned compared to 45% of those earning $600-1,000, 41% of those earning $1,000-1,600 and 39% of those on $1,600+.
Older respondents tended to be more concerned – 49% of those aged 55+ were very/somewhat concerned compared to 32% of 18-34’s and 38% of 35-54’s.
Australian economy, economy, Essential Report, GFC, global financial crisis, Polling, polls, spending and income
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?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total better | 70% | 77% | 70% | 85% |
| Total worse | 10% | 5% | 14% | 5% |
| A lot better | 31% | 41% | 27% | 48% |
| A little better | 39% | 36% | 43% | 37% |
| About the same | 16% | 17% | 15% | 8% |
| A little worse | 7% | 4% | 9% | 2% |
| A lot worse | 3% | 1% | 5% | 3% |
| Don’t know | 3% | 1% | 1% | 4% |
70% think that Australia’s economy has performed better than other countries over the last few years, 16% say about the same and 10% think it has been worse.
There were no substantial differences across demographic groups although those on higher incomes are a little more likely to believe it has performed better – 76% of those on incomes over $1,600pw compared to 67% of those earning under $1,000pw.
economy, Essential Report, GFC, Polling, polls
Q. How likely do you think it is that there will soon be another Global Financial Crisis (GFC) similar to the one that occurred in 2009?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total likely | 47% | 39% | 53% | 41% |
| Very likely | 20% | 17% | 22% | 12% |
| Fairly likely | 27% | 22% | 31% | 29% |
| About 50/50 | 39% | 40% | 40% | 36% |
| Not very likely | 8% | 12% | 5% | 15% |
| Don’t know | 7% | 9% | 2% | 9% |
47% believe that another GFC is very or quite likely and a further 39% think it is a 50/50 possibility.
There were no significant differences across demographic groups.
economy, Essential Report, federal politics, GFC, Polling, polls, spending and income, stimulus spending
Q. If there is another Global Financial Crisis, do you think the Australian Government should undertake the same sort of stimulus spending they did in response to the 2009 GFC?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Yes | 36% | 48% | 26% | 56% |
| No | 39% | 24% | 56% | 23% |
| Don’t know | 25% | 28% | 18% | 21% |
In the event of another GFC, 36% support stimulus spending and 39% oppose. About half of Labor and Greens voters support stimulus spending but over half of Liberal/National voters oppose.
Lower income earners are more likely to support stimulus spending – those earning under $1,000pw split 43% support/32% oppose while those earning over $1,000pw split 34% support/42% oppose.
Australian economy, Essential Report, GFC, Labor, Liberal, Polling, polls, the economy
Q. If there is another Global Financial Crisis, which party would you trust most to deal with it?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| The Labor Party | 31% | 75% | 4% | 61% |
| The Liberal Party | 40% | 4% | 82% | 5% |
| No difference | 20% | 13% | 11% | 27% |
| Don’t know | 9% | 8% | 4% | 8% |
If there was another GFC, 40% would trust the Liberal Party more to handle it and 31% would trust the Labor Party more. When a similar question was asked last week, the results were 27% Labor/43% Liberal.
The only demographic groups trusting the Labor Party more were aged 18-24 (Labor 37%/Liberals 29%) and those earning less than $600pw (Labor 41%/Liberals 32%).
Australian economy, economy, Essential Report, GFC, global, Polling, polls
Q. From what you have read and heard, how would you rate the state of the economy of Australia?
And how would you rate the state of the economy of the USA?
And how would you rate the state of the economies of the European countries?
| Australia | USA | Europe | |
| Total getting better | 32% | 5% | 5% |
| Total getting worse | 37% | 84% | 70% |
| Getting a lot better | 7% | 1% | 1% |
| Getting a little better | 25% | 4% | 4% |
| Neither getting better nor worse | 28% | 7% | 14% |
| Getting a little worse | 27% | 26% | 27% |
| Getting a lot worse | 10% | 58% | 43% |
| Don’t know | 2% | 4% | 10% |
A majority believe that Australia’s economy is getting better but the economies of USA and Europe are getting worse.
53% of respondents think the Australian economy is getting better and 12% think it is getting worse. 62% think the USA economy is getting worse and 53% think the economies of European countries are getting worse.
For Australia, 63% of Labor voters, 66% of Greens voters and 44% of Liberal/National voters think the economy is getting better. Younger respondents were most optimistic about the Australian economy – 60% of those aged under 35 think it is getting better compared to 46% of those aged 55+.
Australian economy, economic impact, economic issues, Essential Report, GFC, global financial crisis, Polling, polls
Q. How much impact do you think the economies of other countries have on Australia’s economy?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| A lot | 47% | 44% | 49% | 46% |
| Some | 41% | 44% | 42% | 48% |
| A little | 8% | 10% | 7% | 6% |
| None | * | – | – | – |
| Don’t know | 3% | 2% | 2% | – |
47% think that the economies of other countries have a lot of impact on the Australian economy and 41% think they have some impact. Only 8% think they have little or no impact. There were no major differences across demographic groups.
economy, Essential Report, GFC, global financial crisis, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls, the economy
Q. Which party would you trust most to handle the economy if there was another Global Financial Crisis (GFC)?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| The Labor Party | 27% | 77% | 3% | 41% |
| The Liberal Party | 43% | 6% | 86% | 3% |
| No difference | 19% | 13% | 9% | 42% |
| Don’t know | 10% | 4% | 2% | 13% |
43% said they would trust the Liberal Party most to handle the economy if there was another GFC, 27% would trust the Labor Party most and 19% said there was no difference.
Those aged under 35 were more likely to think there was no difference (25%) while those aged 55+ were more likely to prefer the Liberal Party (54%)