The Essential Report Archive Read the latest report

  • Jul, 2015

    ,

    Gun laws

    Q. Do you think Australian gun ownership laws are too strong, not strong enough or about right?

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote Other

    Too strong

    6%

    5%

    6%

    1%

    13%

    Not strong enough

    45%

    47%

    48%

    30%

    47%

    About right

    40%

    37%

    41%

    61%

    35%

    Don’t know

    10%

    11%

    5%

    8%

    6%

    45% think Australia’s gun laws are not strong enough and 40% think they are about right. Only 6% think they are too strong.

    Those most likely to think the gun laws are not strong enough were aged 55+ (64%) and live in NSW (52%).

    Those most likely to think the gun laws are about right were women (45%), aged 18-34 (53%), Greens voters (61%) and live in Victoria (48%).

  • Jul, 2015

    ,

    Same sex marriage laws

    Q. Regardless of your opinion about same-sex marriage, do you think it is likely or unlikely that the laws will be changed in the next few years to allow same-sex marriage?

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote Other

    Feb 2015

    Total likely

    69%

    69%

    72%

    79%

    62%

    56%

    Total unlikely

    20%

    20%

    19%

    13%

    28%

    28%

    Very likely

    31%

    35%

    26%

    44%

    32%

    15%

    Likely

    38%

    34%

    46%

    35%

    30%

    41%

    Unlikely

    14%

    16%

    13%

    12%

    12%

    22%

    Very unlikely

    6%

    4%

    6%

    1%

    16%

    6%

    Don’t know

    11%

    11%

    8%

    8%

    11%

    16%

    69% think it is likely that the laws will be changed in the next few years to allow same-sex marriage and 20% think it is unlikely.

    This is a substantial shift since this question was asked in February.

    Those thinking it likely that the laws will be changed has increased 13 percentage points and those thinking it is unlikely has declined 8 percentage points. While expectations that the laws will be changed has increased across the board, it has increased most with Liberal/National voters – from 52% to 72%.

Error: