Parties and Social Class
Q. Whose interests do you think the Labor Party mainly represent?
|
Total
|
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
Working class |
Middle class |
|
April 2013 |
|
| Working class |
41% |
53% |
39% |
27% |
35% |
44% |
45% |
30% |
|||
| Middle class |
14% |
18% |
10% |
27% |
16% |
10% |
18% |
16% |
|||
| Upper class |
8% |
3% |
10% |
14% |
13% |
11% |
6% |
13% |
|||
| All of them |
8% |
14% |
3% |
11% |
6% |
6% |
8% |
8% |
|||
| None of them |
16% |
3% |
30% |
6% |
19% |
17% |
15% |
22% |
|||
| Don’t know |
13% |
10% |
8% |
15% |
11% |
12% |
8% |
11% |
41% believe that the Labor Party mainly represents working class people and 16% don’t think they represent any class. 53% of Labor voters think the Labor Party mainly represents the working class and 27% of Greens voters think they mainly represent the middle class. 30% of Liberal/National voters don’t think they represent any class.
44% of respondents who describe themselves as working class and 45% of those who say they are middle class think the Labor Party mainly represents the working class.
Since this question was asked in April 2013, the proportion thinking that Labor represents the working class has increased from 30% to 41%.
Parties and Social Class
Q. Whose interests do you think the Liberal Party mainly represent?
|
Total
|
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
Working class |
Middle class |
|
April 2013 |
|
| Working class |
4% |
2% |
7% |
– |
3% |
7% |
3% |
5% |
|||
| Middle class |
17% |
7% |
31% |
12% |
11% |
13% |
22% |
20% |
|||
| Upper class |
47% |
74% |
20% |
65% |
55% |
54% |
49% |
40% |
|||
| All of them |
14% |
4% |
32% |
2% |
8% |
11% |
15% |
17% |
|||
| None of them |
8% |
6% |
6% |
6% |
10% |
7% |
5% |
8% |
|||
| Don’t know |
11% |
7% |
4% |
14% |
13% |
8% |
7% |
9% |
47% believe that the Liberal Party mainly represents upper class people and 17% think they represent the middle class. 74% of Labor voters and 65% of Greens voters think the Liberal Party mainly represent the upper class. 31% of Liberal/National voters think they represent the middle class and 32% think they represent all classes.
54% of respondents who describe themselves as working class and 49% of those who say they are middle class think the Liberal Party mainly represents the upper class.
Since this question was asked in April 2013, the proportion thinking that the Liberals represent the upper class has increased from 40% to 47%.
Same party in Government at State and Federal levels
Q. Do you think it is better to have the same party in Government at both State and Federal levels or do you think it is better to have different parties in Government at State and Federal levels?
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
Total Nov 13 |
|
| Same party in Government |
26% |
26% |
38% |
10% |
11% |
26% |
||
| Different parties in Government |
24% |
27% |
17% |
41% |
37% |
22% |
||
| Makes no difference |
36% |
36% |
34% |
33% |
40% |
40% |
||
| Don’t know |
13% |
11% |
11% |
15% |
12% |
12% |
36% think it doesn’t make any difference whether the parties in Government at State and Federal levels are different or the same. 26% think it is better if they are the same and 24% think it would be better if they were different. These figures have changed little since this question was asked in November.
Labor voters were a little more likely to favour different parties while Liberal/National voters were more likely to favour having the same party in power at both levels.
Influence of Groups
Q. How much influence do you think the following groups have on the policies of Australian political parties?
| Too much | About the right amount | Not enough | Don’t know | |
| The media | 53% | 27% | 5% | 15% |
| Banks | 50% | 28% | 5% | 18% |
| Business lobby groups | 40% | 33% | 5% | 21% |
| Mining companies | 40% | 33% | 10% | 17% |
| Unions | 40% | 33% | 12% | 14% |
| Religious groups | 38% | 29% | 11% | 21% |
| Environment groups | 25% | 31% | 29% | 15% |
About half the respondents believed that the media (53%) and banks (50%) have too much influence on the policies of Australian political parties.
40% believed that business lobby groups, mining companies and unions have too much influence.
Only 25% thought environmental groups have too much influence and 29% think they have not enough influence.
There were substantial differences by party preference on the influence of business lobby groups (Labor 52% too much, Lib/Nat 28%), unions (26%/61%), and mining companies (57%/26%). However, there was little difference on the perceived influence of the media (Labor 57% too much, Lib/Nat 56%) and banks (53%/51%). Comments »
Essential Report
Two Party Preferred: 14 May 2019
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