balance of power, Essential Media, Essential Report, federal politics, Greens, Independents, Independents in parliament, Labor, leadership, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls
Q. Do you think the independents and Greens holding the balance of power in Parliament has been good or bad for Australia?
| 7 Mar 11 | Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total good | 27% | 28% | 40% | 11% | 77% |
| Total bad | 41% | 39% | 19% | 68% | 6% |
| Very good | 7% | 9% | 11% | 3% | 40% |
| Good | 20% | 19% | 29% | 8% | 37% |
| Neither good nor bad | 33% | 33% | 41% | 21% | 17% |
| Bad | 22% | 21% | 13% | 33% | 5% |
| Very bad | 19% | 18% | 6% | 35% | 1% |
28% of respondents think the independents and Greens holding the balance of power in Parliament has been good for Australia and 39% bad. This is very similar to the results obtained for this question in March. The only substantial change is that Labor voters are now more positive – in March they responded 33% good/25% bad.
Election, Independents, Independents in parliament
Q. Do you think there should be more or fewer independents in Federal Parliament?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | |
| Should be more | 29% | 29% | 21% | 58% | 65% |
| Should be fewer | 26% | 21% | 40% | 5% | 7% |
| About the right number | 23% | 32% | 19% | 19% | 14% |
| Don’t know | 22% | 19% | 20% | 17% | 14% |
Respondents are divided over whether there should be more or fewer independents in Parliament – 29% say more, 26% fewer and 23% think there is about the right number. 40% of Coalition voters think there should be fewer and a majority of Greens and other voters think there should be more.