2PP, federal politics, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls, two party preferred, voting, 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
| First preference/leaning to | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Liberal | 46% | 46% | 45% | 46% | |
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |
| Total Lib/Nat | 43.6 | 49% | 49% | 48% | 49% |
| Labor | 38.0 | 32% | 31% | 32% | 31% |
| Greens | 11.8 | 11% | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| Other/Independent | 6.6 | 9% | 9% | 9% | 9% |
| 2PP | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Total Lib/Nat | 49.9% | 56% | 56% | 55% | 56% |
| Labor | 50.1% | 44% | 44% | 45% | 44% |
NB. The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived 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.
carbon pricing scheme, Carbon Tax, climate change, Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls, Voting intention
Q. How important is the issue of the carbon pricing scheme in deciding which party you would vote for?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Very important | 30% | 25% | 39% | 33% |
| Somewhat important | 29% | 28% | 31% | 35% |
| A little important | 21% | 25% | 16% | 18% |
| Not at all important | 13% | 18% | 12% | 8% |
| Don’t know | 7% | 3% | 2% | 6% |
30% say that the carbon pricing scheme is very important to their voting decision and 29% say it is somewhat important. Liberal/National voters are more likely to consider it very important (39%).
The carbon pricing issue is more important to those who are opposed than those who support it. 68% of those who oppose the scheme say it is very/somewhat important compared to 58% of those who support it.
climate change, environment, Essential Report, federal politics, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls, tony abbott
Q. What do you think Tony Abbott actually believes about climate change?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Does not believe in climate change | 19% | 28% | 14% | 34% |
| Does believe in climate change | 27% | 13% | 46% | 8% |
| Doesn’t care whether climate change is real or not | 31% | 48% | 17% | 42% |
| Don’t know | 22% | 11% | 22% | 16% |
31% of respondents think that Tony Abbott doesn’t care whether climate change is real or not, 27% think he believes in climate change and 19% think he doesn’t.
46% of Liberal/National voters think he believes in climate change compared to only 13% of Labor voters and 8% of Greens voters. 34% of Greens voters think he does not believe in climate change and 48% of Labor voters think he doesn’t care whether climate change is real or not.
2PP, Essential Report, federal politics, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls, 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 = 1926
| First preference/leaning to | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Liberal | 45% | 47% | 46% | 45% | |
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |
| Total Lib/Nat | 43.6 | 48% | 50% | 49% | 48% |
| Labor | 38.0 | 32% | 30% | 31% | 32% |
| Greens | 11.8 | 11% | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| Other/Independent | 6.6 | 9% | 9% | 9% | 9% |
| 2PP | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Total Lib/Nat | 49.9% | 55% | 57% | 56% | 55% |
| Labor | 50.1% | 45% | 43% | 44% | 45% |
NB. The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived 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.
carbon pricing scheme, Carbon Tax, Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls, tony abbott
Q. If the Government introduces their carbon pricing scheme Tony Abbott has said that if the Liberal Party wins the next election he will repeal this legislation. Do you support or oppose his proposal to overturn the carbon pricing scheme after it has been put in place?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total support | 50% | 24% | 81% | 15% |
| Total oppose | 36% | 63% | 9% | 73% |
| Strongly support | 30% | 8% | 56% | 8% |
| Support | 20% | 16% | 25% | 7% |
| Oppose | 14% | 19% | 7% | 12% |
| Strongly oppose | 22% | 44% | 2% | 61% |
| Don’t know | 15% | 13% | 9% | 10% |
Overall, 50% of respondents support Tony Abbott’s proposal to overturn the carbon pricing scheme after it has been put in place.
Not surprisingly 81% of Lib/Nat voters support Tony Abbott’s proposal. 63% of Labor voters, and 73% of Green voters oppose Tony Abbott’s proposal.
Support for Tony Abbott’s proposal increased with age, with 63% of those aged 65+, compared to 36% of those aged 18-24 supporting the proposal to overturn the carbon pricing scheme.
Males (53%) were slightly more likely than females (47%) to support Tony Abbott’s proposal.
Essential Report, Labor, Labor Party policies, Liberal, Liberal Party policies, Polling, polls
Q. Thinking about the Federal Parliament, how much difference do you think there is between the policies of the Labor Party and the Liberal Party?
| Total
8 Nov 10 |
Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Very little difference | 29% | 21% | 20% | 13% | 29% |
| Some difference | 43% | 39% | 41% | 40% | 51% |
| A lot of difference | 19% | 31% | 32% | 44% | 15% |
| Don’t know | 9% | 8% | 6% | 4% | 4% |
21% of respondents think that there is very little difference between the policies of the Labor and Liberal parties. This is less than in November 2010 (29%). 39% of respondents think that there is some difference and 31% think there is a lot of difference (up from 19% in November last year).
Green voters (29%) were more likely to think that there is little difference.
There is little difference between the responses by gender or state.
Those aged 65+ were the most likely to think that there is a lot of difference between the policies of Labor and the Liberal parties (55%).
Essential Report, Labor, Labor Party policies, Liberal, Liberal Party policies, Policy
Q. Do you think that in the last few years, the policies of the Labor Party and the Liberal Party have become more similar or do you think their policies have been moving apart?
| Total
8 Nov 10 |
Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Become more similar | 51% | 40% | 41% | 36% | 56% |
| Moving further apart | 17% | 31% | 28% | 41% | 22% |
| No change | 21% | 17% | 24% | 15% | 11% |
| Don’t know | 12% | 11% | 7% | 8% | 11% |
40% of respondents think that the Labor and Liberal parties are becoming more similar – a drop from the 51% who thought the same thing in November 2010.
31% think that they are moving further apart – a big increase from the 17% who thought the same thing in November 2010.
Green voters (56%) were the most likely to think that they were becoming more similar. However 41% of Labor voters and 36% of Lib/Nat voters also thought that they were becoming more similar.
Lib/Nat voters were the most likely to think that they were moving further apart (41%).
There was no substantial differences based on gender, state or age
2PP, Essential Report, Federal Government, federal politics, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls, 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
| First preference/leaning to | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Liberal | 45% | 46% | 47% | 46% | |
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |
| Total Lib/Nat | 43.6 | 47% | 49% | 50% | 49% |
| Labor | 38.0 | 32% | 32% | 30% | 31% |
| Greens | 11.8 | 12% | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| Other/Independent | 6.6 | 9% | 9% | 9% | 9% |
| 2PP | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Total Lib/Nat | 49.9% | 55% | 56% | 57% | 56% |
| Labor | 50.1% | 45% | 44% | 43% | 44% |
NB. The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived 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.