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  • May, 2012

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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 = 1,918 respondents

    First preference/leaning to

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    23/4/12

    2 weeks ago

    7/5/12

    Last week

    14/5/12

    This week

    21/5/12

    Liberal

    45%

    47%

    47%

    46%

    National

    3%

    3%

    3%

    3%

    Total Lib/Nat

    43.6%

    49%

    50%

    50%

    49%

    Labor

    38.0%

    31%

    29%

    30%

    33%

    Greens

    11.8%

    11%

    11%

    11%

    10%

    Other/Independent

    6.6%

    9%

    9%

    9%

    8%

     

    2PP

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    2 weeks ago

    Last week

    This week

    Total Lib/Nat

    49.9%

    56%

    58%

    57%

    56%

    Labor

    50.1%

    44%

    42%

    43%

    44

    NB.  The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived from 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. These estimates have a confidence interval of approx. + or – 2%.

  • May, 2012

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    Trust to deal with GFC

    Q. If there was another Global Financial Crisis, which party would you trust most to deal with it?

     

    15 Aug 11

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    The Labor Party

    31%

    25%

    68%

    2%

    42%

    The Liberal Party

    40%

    42%

    5%

    83%

    5%

    No difference

    20%

    23%

    19%

    11%

    39%

    Don’t know

    9%

    10%

    8%

    4%

    14%

    If there was another GFC, 42% would trust the Liberal Party more to handle it and 25% would trust the Labor Party more. This represents a shift to the Liberal Party from net +9% to net +17%

    The Liberal Party was rated higher than Labor with all demographic groups. Those most likely to trust the Liberal Party more were men (47%), aged 55+ (48%), full-time workers (50%) and income over $1,600 pw (50%).

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  • Apr, 2012

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    Best Leader of the Labor Party

    Q. Which of the following do you think would make the best leader of the Labor Party?

     

    30 May 2011

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Julia Gillard

    23%

    16%

    40%

    4%

    21%

    Kevin Rudd

    32%

    31%

    33%

    32%

    32%

    Wayne Swan

    2%

    4%

    6%

    4%

    5%

    Greg Combet

    4%

    2%

    1%

    2%

    2%

    Bill Shorten

    3%

    6%

    8%

    5%

    3%

    Someone else

    19%

    23%

    6%

    33%

    18%

    Don’t know

    17%

    17%

    6%

    19%

    19%

    33% think Kevin Rudd would make the best leader of the Labor Party and 16% prefer Julia Gillard. This represents  declines of 1% for Kevin Rudd and 7% for Julia Gillard since this question was asked nearly 12 months ago. Those selecting “someone else” has increased from 19% to 23%.

    Julia Gillard is preferred by 40% of Labor voters compared to 33% for Kevin Rudd. Men prefer Kevin Rudd over Julia Gillard 33% to 16% and women by 28% to 17%.

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  • Apr, 2012

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    Party Best At…

    Q. Which party – Labor or Liberal – do you think is best when it comes to:

     

    Labor

    Liberal

    No difference

    Don’t know

    Difference

    Representing the interests of Australian working families

    37%

    25%

    29%

    9%

    +12

    Representing the interests of you and people like you

    29%

    35%

    26%

    10%

    -6

    Standing up for the middle class in Australia

    26%

    33%

    30%

    11%

    -7

    Representing the interests of the large corporate and financial interests

    10%

    54%

    25%

    11%

    -44

    Being more concerned about the interests of working families in Australia than the rich and large business and financial interests

    37%

    22%

    30%

    11%

    +15

    Handling the economy overall

    22%

    41%

    26%

    10%

    -19

    Handling the economy in a way that tries to take the interests of working families into consideration as much as it takes the interests of the large corporate and financial groups

    29%

    34%

    25%

    12%

    -5

    Handling the economy in a way that best helps small business

    22%

    40%

    25%

    13%

    -18

    Handling the economy in a way that best helps the middle class

    23%

    38%

    27%

    12%

    -15

    Handling the economy in a way that helps you and people like you the most.

    26%

    36%

    27%

    11%

    -10

    Labor was considered best at representing the interests of Australian working families (37%) and being more concerned about the interests of working families in Australia than the rich and large business and financial interests (37%). The Liberals were considered best on all the other measures.

    In particular, the Liberal Party was considered much better on representing the interests of the large corporate and financial interests (54%), handling the economy overall (41%) and handling the economy in a way that best helps small business (40%).

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  • Mar, 2012

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    Party Best at Handling Economy

    Q. Which party do you think would be best at handling the Australian economy in the interests of you and people like you?

     

    4 Jul 11

    26 Mar 12

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    The Labor Party

    26%

    29%

    76%

    1%

    39%

    The Liberal Party

    43%

    41%

    2%

    89%

    7%

    No difference

    23%

    20%

    14%

    7%

    45%

    Don’t know

    8%

    10%

    7%

    4%

    9%

     

    41% (down 2% since July last year) think the Liberal Party would be best at handling the Australian economy in their interests and 29% (up 3%) nominated the Labor Party. 20% think there is no difference.

    There were significant differences by income – those earning under $600pw split 38% Labor/30% Liberal while those earning over $1,600pw favoured the Liberal Party 49% to 23% Labor.

    Comments »

  • Mar, 2012

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    Leadership Challenge Good or Bad for Government

    Q. Do you think the recent leadership challenge has been good or bad for the Labor Government?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total good

    13%

    30%

    7%

    16%

    Total bad

    62%

    39%

    80%

    50%

    Very good

    4%

    10%

    2%

    4

    Good

    9%

    20%

    5%

    12%

    Neither good nor bad

    18%

    26%

    12%

    28%

    Bad

    24%

    25%

    22%

    28%

    Very bad

    38%

    14%

    58%

    22%

    Don’t know

    6%

    4%

    2%

    6%

    62% think that the recent leadership challenge was bad for the Labor Party and only 13% think it was good.

    Labor voters were split – 39% think it was bad, 30% good and 26% neither good nor bad.

    Comments »

  • Mar, 2012

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    More or Less Likely to Vote Labor

    Q. Has the re-election of Julia Gillard as leader of the Labor Party made you more or less likely to support the ALP at the next federal election.

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total more likely

    13%

    33%

    5%

    18%

    Total less likely

    47%

    21%

    64%

    38%

    Much more likely

    6%

    17%

    1%

    5%

    A little more likely

    7%

    16%

    4%

    13%

    A little less likely

    10%

    11%

    7%

    16%

    Much less likely

    37%

    10%

    57%

    22%

    Makes no difference

    34%

    42%

    30%

    43%

    Don’t know

    5%

    3%

    1%

    47% say that the re-election of Julia Gillard as leader has made them less likely to support the Labor Party and only 13% say it has made them more likely to support the Labor Party at the next election.

    Among Labor voters, 33% say it has made them more likely and 21% less likely to support Labor.

    Comments »

  • Mar, 2012

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    Kevin Rudd’s Future

    Q. What do you think Kevin Rudd should do now?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Stay in Parliament and challenge again

    29%

    30%

    28%

    29%

    Stay in Parliament and not challenge again

    28%

    44%

    17%

    46%

    Resign from Parliament

    30%

    17%

    44%

    20%

    Don’t know

    13%

    8%

    10%

    5%

    Respondents were divided about what Kevin Rudd should do – 30% say he should resign from parliament, 29% think he should stay and challenge again and 28% think he should stay and not challenge again.

    Among Labor voters, 44% think he should stay and not challenge, while 44% of Liberal/National voters think he should resign from Parliament. 46% of Greens voters think he should stay in Parliament and not challenge again.

    Comments »

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