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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 Liberal Party

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

     

    27 Sep 2010

    28 Feb 2011

    30 May 2011

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Tony Abbott

    26%

    24%

    22%

    23%

    11%

    39%

    3%

    Malcolm Turnbull

    20%

    18%

    25%

    30%

    37%

    26%

    53%

    Joe Hockey

    15%

    16%

    17%

    14%

    12%

    17%

    12%

    Julie Bishop

    5%

    4%

    3%

    5%

    4%

    5%

    5%

    Andrew Robb

    na

    1%

    1%

    1%

    2%

    1%

    Someone else

    na

    14%

    13%

    12%

    16%

    6%

    18%

    Don’t know

    33%

    22%

    19%

    16%

    18%

    7%

    10

    30% (+5%) think Malcolm Turnbull would make the best leader of the Liberal Party, 23% (+1%) prefer Tony Abbott and 14% (-3%) Joe Hockey.

    Among Liberal/National voters, 39% (-1%) prefer Tony Abbott, 26% (+7%) Malcolm Turnbull and 17% (-5%) Joe Hockey.

    Malcolm Turnbull is preferred by 33% of men and 28% of women, Tony Abbott by 26% of men and 19% of women.

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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.

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  • Feb, 2012

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    Approval of Tony Abbott

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?

    18 Jan

    2010

    5 Jul

    2010

    20 Dec 2010 14 Mar

    2011

    14 June 12 Sept 17 Oct 14 Nov 12 Dec 16 Jan 2012 13 Feb
    Total approve 37% 37% 39% 38% 38% 39% 40% 36% 32% 35% 35%
    Total disapprove 37% 47% 39% 47% 48% 50% 51% 52% 53% 51% 53%
    Strongly approve 5% 8% 9% 7% 6% 8% 8% 6% 6% 7% 6%
    Approve 32% 29% 30% 31% 32% 31% 32% 30% 26% 28% 29%
    Disapprove 20% 23% 21% 24% 25% 23% 23% 26% 25% 25% 23%
    Strongly disapprove 17% 24% 18% 23% 23% 27% 28% 26% 28% 26% 30%
    Don’t know 26% 16% 22% 16% 15% 11% 9% 12% 14% 13% 12%

    Tony Abbott’s approval rating has also changed little over the last month. 35% (no change) approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader and 53% (up 2%) disapprove – a change in net rating from -16 to -18 over the last 4 weeks.

    67% (down 1%) of Coalition voters approve and 21% (no change) disapprove.

    By gender – men 40% approve/52% disapprove, women 31% approve/54% disapprove.

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  • Feb, 2012

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    Leaders at the Next Election

    Q. Do you think Julia Gillard will still be leading the Labor Party at the election due next year?

    Q. Do you think Tony Abbott will still be leading the Liberal Party at the election due next year?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Julia Gillard Yes 31% 54% 19% 43%
    No 47% 22% 70% 26%
    Don’t know 22% 24% 11% 31%
    Tony Abbott Yes 47% 37% 67% 34%
    No 25% 37% 12% 31%
    Don’t know 28% 26% 21% 35%

    31% think Julia Gillard will still be the leader of the Labor Party at the election due next year and 47% think she will not be the leader. Opinions are closely associated with party preference. 54% of Labor voters think she will still be the leader.

    47% think Tony Abbott will still be the leader of the Liberal Party at the election due next year and 25% think he will not be the leader. Opinions are closely associated with party preference. 67% of Liberal/National voters think he will still be the leader.

    Among non-major party voters, 36% think Julia Gillard will still be leading the Labor Party and 33% think Tony Abbott will still be leading the Liberal Party.

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  • Dec, 2011

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    2012 Outlook – Political Parties

    Q. Do you think 2012 will be a good or bad year for each of the following political parties?

    Total good

    Dec 10

    Total bad

    Dec10

    Total good Total bad Very good Good Neither good nor bad Bad Very bad Don’t know
    The Liberal Party 35% 18% 36% 24% 8% 28% 28% 17% 7% 12%
    The Labor Party 19% 40% 16% 49% 3% 13% 23% 29% 20% 11%
    The Greens 22% 29% 17% 37% 2% 15% 32% 20% 17% 13%

    Respondents expect that 2012 is likely to be a relatively good year for the Liberal Party (36% good/24% bad) and a bad year for the Labor Party (16%/49%) and the Greens (17%/37%).

    Among their own voters, 67% expect the Liberals to have a good year, 38% expect Labor to have a good year and 67% expect the Greens to have a good year.

    Compared to expectations 12 months ago, respondents were somewhat less positive about all political parties – The Liberal Party has dropped form net +17% to net +12%, the Labor Party from -21% to -33% and the Greens from -7% to -20%.

    Comparing these results with last week’s questions about 2011, respondents expect the Liberal Party to have a better year (net +12% next year this year compared to net -3% this year), the Labor Party to have a similar year (-33% next year, -37% this year) and the Greens to have a much worse year (-20% next year, +4% this year).

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