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  • Sep, 2012

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    Intolerance as a problem in Australia

    Q. For each of the following forms of intolerance, please indicate to what extent you think it is a problem in Australia:

     

    Total large/moderate

    Total

    small/not

    A large problem

    Moderate problem

    Small problem

    Not a problem at all

    Don’t know

    Racism

    71%

    27%

    32%

    39%

    21%

    6%

    2%

    Religious intolerance

    65%

    32%

    31%

    34%

    23%

    9%

    2%

    Homophobia

    50%

    45%

    18%

    32%

    33%

    12%

    5%

    Sexism

    45%

    53%

    12%

    33%

    40%

    13%

    2%

    Ageism

    44%

    49%

    15%

    29%

    33%

    16%

    8%

    The vast majority of respondents (71%) regard racism to be either a large or moderate problem in Australia, followed by 65% who believe religious intolerance to be a problem.

    Fifty percent (50%) of respondents regard homophobia to be a large or moderate problem in Australia.

    After racism, religious intolerance and homophobia, 45% of respondents view sexism as either a large or moderate problem in Australia.  The majority of respondents see it as either a small problem or not a problem at all (53%).

  • Sep, 2012

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    Intolerance as a problem in Australia (continued)

    Q. For each of the following forms of intolerance, please indicate to what extent you think it is a problem in Australia:

    Total –

    A large problem

    Exp. Racism

    (n=127)

    Exp.
    Sexism

    (n=110)

    Exp.
    Religious Intolerance

    (n=67)

    Exp. Ageism

    (n=123)

    Do not exp.

    (n=701)

    Male

    Female

    Racism

    32%

    51%

    42%

    35%

    34%

    28%

    29%

    35%

    Sexism

    12%

    18%

    32%

    21%

    16%

    9%

    9%

    15%

    Homophobia

    18%

    20%

    38%

    21%

    24%

    15%

    16%

    20%

    Religious intolerance

    31%

    32%

    40%

    48%

    36%

    28%

    28%

    34%

    Ageism

    15%

    16%

    20%

    23%

    34%

    11%

    15%

    15%

    The table above shows the results from the previous question (‘a large problem’ only) by sub-samples of those that experience one or more of the forms of intolerance and gender.  Only those sub-samples with a sample size of 50 respondents or greater are shown.

    Respondents that experience racism were far more likely to regard racism as a large problem (51%).

    Those that experience sexism were more likely to see all forms of intolerance as a large problem: racism (42%), sexism (32%), homophobia (38%), religious intolerance (40%) and ageism (20%).

    Those that experience religious intolerance were more likely to regard sexism (21%), religious intolerance (48%) and ageism (23%) to be a large problem.

    Those had do not experience any form of intolerance were consistently less likely to regard them to be a large problem.

    Male respondents were also consistently less likely to regard each form of intolerance to be a large problem, compared with female respondents, save for ageism where an equal portion of male and female respondents (15%) see ageism as a large problem.

  • Sep, 2012

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    Party better at dealing with intolerance

    Q.  In your view, which party is better at dealing with the various forms of intolerance?

     

    Labor

    Liberal

    Greens

    Other

    Don’t know

    Racism

    17%

    23%

    11%

    2%

    46%

    Sexism

    19%

    19%

    12%

    2%

    47%

    Homophobia

    13%

    17%

    21%

    3%

    45%

    Religious intolerance

    16%

    22%

    9%

    3%

    50%

    Ageism

    16%

    20%

    8%

    3%

    52%

    With the exception of sexism, when compared to Labor, the Liberals are consistently regarded by respondents as being the party that is better at dealing with racism (23% Liberal, 17% Labor), homophobia (13% Labor, 17% Liberal), religious intolerance (16% Labor, 22% Liberal) and ageism (16% Labor, 20% Liberal).

    On sexism, both the major parties are equally regarded as the party that is better at dealing with it (19% each).

    The Greens are regarded as the best party to deal with homophobia (21%).

    There were a high portion of don’t knows in this question, with either a majority or close to a majority of respondents selecting this option for each form of intolerance.

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