approval of PM, Essential Report, Julia Gillard, Labor, Polling
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister?
| 19 Jul 2010 | 20 Dec 2010 | 14 Mar | 14 June | 12 Sept | 17 Oct | 14 Nov | |
| Total approve | 52% | 43% | 41% | 34% | 28% | 34% | 37% |
| Total disapprove | 30% | 40% | 46% | 54% | 64% | 59% | 55% |
| Strongly approve | 11% | 10% | 7% | 6% | 5% | 7% | 8% |
| Approve | 41% | 33% | 34% | 28% | 23% | 27% | 29% |
| Disapprove | 17% | 24% | 22% | 29% | 28% | 27% | 25% |
| Strongly disapprove | 13% | 16% | 24% | 25% | 36% | 32% | 30% |
| Don’t know | 18% | 17% | 13% | 13% | 8% | 7% | 9% |
Julia Gillard’s approval rating has continued the improvement shown last month. 37% (up 3%) approve of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister and 55% (down 4%) disapprove – a change in net rating from -25 to -18 over the last 4 weeks. This represents Julia Gillard’s best ratings since May.
81% of Labor voters approve (up 7%) and 16% disapprove (down 5%).
By gender – men 37% approve/57% disapprove, women 36% approve/52% disapprove.
Essential Report, federal politics, Greens, Julia Gillard, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, tony abbott
Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott?
| 5 Jul 2010 | 14 Mar | 14 June | 12 Sept | 17 Oct | 14 Nov | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Julia Gillard | 53% | 44% | 41% | 36% | 38% | 41% | 83% | 7% | 80% |
| Tony Abbott | 26% | 33% | 36% | 40% | 39% | 36% | 5% | 73% | 4% |
| Don’t know | 21% | 23% | 24% | 24% | 23% | 24% | 12% | 20% | 17% |
41% believe Julia Gillard would make the better Prime Minister and 36% prefer Tony Abbott – a net improvement for Julia Gillard of 6% on last month’s figures (from -1% to +5%). This is the best result for Julia Gillard since June.
Men are evenly split 39%/39% and women favour Julia Gillard 42%/33%.
Australia, Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling
Q. To which region do you think Australia’s future is most closely tied?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Europe | 7% | 6% | 7% | 5% |
| Asia | 74% | 81% | 76% | 82% |
| North America | 9% | 6% | 10% | 10% |
| Don’t know | 10% | 6% | 8% | 4% |
74% think Australia’s future is most closely tied to Asia – only 9% think it is tied to North America and 7% Europe.
Views are similar across major voter groups. However, younger respondents were a little less likely to agree – 68% of those aged under 35 think Australia’s future is most closely tied to Asia compared to 81% of those aged 55+.
Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, voter interests
Q. Which political party do you think best represents the interests of –
| Labor | Liberal | Greens | Don’t know | Net (Labor-
Liberal |
Net
May 11 |
||
| Families with young children | 42% | 31% | 5% | 23% | +11 | +3 | |
| Students | 36% | 26% | 12% | 27% | +10 | +2 | |
| Working people on average incomes | 44% | 33% | 5% | 18% | +11 | +8 | |
| Working people on low incomes | 50% | 25% | 6% | 19% | +25 | +16 | |
| Working people on high incomes | 13% | 67% | 2% | 18% | -54 | -50 | |
| People on welfare | 46% | 20% | 9% | 26% | +26 | +15 | |
| Pensioners | 39% | 27% | 7% | 27% | +12 | +5 | |
| Small businesses and self-employed | 22% | 51% | 3% | 24% | -29 | -27 | |
| Big business | 11% | 68% | 1% | 19% | -57 | -49 | |
| The next generation of Australians | 21% | 32% | 17% | 30% | -11 | -12 | |
| Indigenous people | 28% | 17% | 19% | 36% | +11 | +2 | |
| Ethnic communities | 27% | 19% | 15% | 39% | +8 | +1 | |
| Rural and regional Australians | 22% | 35% | 12% | 31% | -13 | -16 |
The Labor Party is considered the party which best represents the interests of families with young children, students, working people on low and average incomes, people on welfare and pensioners. The Liberal Party is considered substantially better at representing the interests of people on high incomes, big business and small business and self-employed. The Greens’ main strengths are in representing the next generation, indigenous people and ethnic communities.
Since this question was last asked in May, the Labor Party has considerably improved its position on representing the interests of families with young children, students, people on low incomes and people on welfare. The perception that the Liberal Party best represents the interest of big business has increased.
2PP, Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, two party preferred, 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 respondents
| First preference/leaning to | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Liberal | 45% | 45% | 44% | 43% | |
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |
| Total Lib/Nat | 43.6% | 48% | 48% | 47% | 46% |
| Labor | 38.0% | 33% | 32% | 34% | 35% |
| Greens | 11.8% | 10% | 11% | 10% | 9% |
| Other/Independent | 6.6% | 9% | 8% | 9% | 9% |
| 2PP | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Total Lib/Nat | 49.9% | 55% | 55% | 55% | 54% |
| Labor | 50.1% | 45% | 45% | 45% | 46% |
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.
Alan Joyce, Essential Report, fair work australia, Julia Gillard, Labor, Liberal, Polling, Qantas, Qantas Dispute, tony abbott, unions
Q. Did you approve or disapprove of the performance of each of the following in the Qantas dispute?
| Regular air travellers | |||||||||
| Total approve | Total disapprove | Strongly approve | Approve | Disapprove | Strongly disapprove | Don’t know | Total approve | Total disapprove | |
| Julia Gillard and the Labor Government | 30% | 49% | 6% | 24% | 22% | 27% | 20% | 30% | 56% |
| Tony Abbott and the opposition | 27% | 45% | 5% | 22% | 21% | 24% | 28% | 36% | 45% |
| Qantas management | 27% | 57% | 6% | 21% | 28% | 29% | 16% | 37% | 56% |
| Qantas workers | 33% | 49% | 7% | 26% | 36% | 13% | 18% | 35% | 55% |
| The Qantas CEO Alan Joyce | 28% | 58% | 8% | 20% | 22% | 36% | 14% | 37% | 55% |
| Union leaders | 24% | 56% | 4% | 20% | 27% | 29% | 19% | 26% | 63% |
| Fair Work Australia | 55% | 21% | 13% | 42% | 15% | 6% | 23% | 62% | 25% |
Overall, respondents disapproved of the performance of all parties to the dispute except for Fair Work Australia, which was approved by 55%.
More than half the respondents disapproved of the Qantas CEO Alan Joyce (58%), Qantas management (57%) and union leaders (56%).
Regular air travellers were more likely to approve of Qantas management and CEO. However, more than half disapproved of all parties except for Tony Abbott and the opposition (45% disapprove) and Fair Work Australia (25%).
2PP, Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, two party preferred, 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 = 1,899 respondents
| First preference/leaning to | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Liberal | 45% | 45% | 45% | 44% | |
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |
| Total Lib/Nat | 43.6% | 48% | 48% | 48% | 47% |
| Labor | 38.0% | 33% | 33% | 32% | 34% |
| Greens | 11.8% | 11% | 11% | 11% | 10% |
| Other/Independent | 6.6% | 9% | 8% | 8% | 9% |
| 2PP | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Total Lib/Nat | 49.9% | 55% | 55% | 55% | 55% |
| Labor | 50.1% | 45% | 45% | 45% | 45% |
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.
corporate interests, Essential Report, Labor, Polling, worker interests
Q. Do you think the Federal Labor Government favours the interests of businesses or workers?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total favour businesses | 28% | 21% | 31% | 40% |
| Total favour workers | 41% | 40% | 50% | 28% |
| Favour businesses a lot more than workers | 13% | 7% | 16% | 18% |
| Favour businesses a little more than workers | 15% | 14% | 15% | 22% |
| Favour workers a little more than businesses | 24% | 32% | 21% | 20% |
| Favour workers a lot more than businesses | 17% | 8% | 29% | 8% |
| Balance the interests of businesses and workers | 14% | 29% | 5% | 15% |
| Don’t know | 17% | 10% | 14% | 17% |
41% think that the Federal Labor Government favours the interests of workers, 28% think they favour the interests of businesses and 14% think they balance their interests.
Labor voters think the favour workers over business by 40% to 21% and 29% think they balance their interests.
Liberal /National voters are much less likely to think they balance their interests – 50% think they favour workers’ interests and 31% think they favour businesses. Greens voters are more likely to think they favour the interests of businesses (40%) over workers (28%).
The only substantial difference across demographic groups is that 20% of older respondents (aged 55+) think the Government balances the interests of businesses and workers.