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  • Jan, 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 = 1,896 respondents

    First preference/leaning to Election

    21 Aug 10

    Last week

    This week
    Liberal 45% 45%
    National 3% 3%
    Total Lib/Nat 43.6% 48% 48%
    Labor 38.0% 35% 35%
    Greens 11.8% 9% 10%
    Other/Independent 6.6% 8% 7%
    2PP Election

    21 Aug 10

    Last week This week
    Total Lib/Nat 49.9% 54% 54%
    Labor 50.1% 46% 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.

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  • Jan, 2012

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    Most Important Roles of Government

    Q. From the following list, what do you think are the three most important roles of the Federal Government? (Number from 1 to 3 where 1 is the most important, 2 the second most important, etc)

    Most important Second Third Total
    Delivering basic services like health and education 18% 27% 20% 65%
    Managing the economy in uncertain economic times 20% 15% 14% 49%
    Making the big decisions for the nations future 20% 12% 12% 44%
    Ensuring that all Australians benefit from Australia’s wealth 13% 10% 11% 34%
    Supporting Australian industries to provide jobs 8% 12% 12% 32%
    Reducing government spending so money can be returned back to taxpayers 9% 8% 8% 25%
    Investing in infrastructure including road rail and broadband 3% 7% 10% 20%
    Providing support to the most disadvantaged 4% 4% 8% 16%
    Don’t know 5% 5% 5% 5%

    Respondents considered that the most important roles of the Federal Government were delivering basic services like health and hospitals (65%), managing the economy in uncertain economic times (49%) and making the big decisions for the nations future (44%).

    The least important roles were providing support for the most disadvantaged (16%), investing in infrastructure including road rail and broadband (20%) and reducing government spending so money can be returned to taxpayers (25%).

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  • Jan, 2012

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    Party best to handle Issues

    Q. Which party do you think is best to handle each of the following issues?

    Labor Liberal Greens Don’t know
    Making the big decisions for the nations future 28% 41% 5% 26%
    Managing the economy in uncertain economic times 30% 44% 2% 24%
    Delivering basic services like health and education 34% 36% 5% 25%
    Investing in infrastructure including road rail and broadband 34% 36% 2% 28%
    Supporting Australian industries to provide jobs 33% 39% 3% 25%
    Reducing government spending so money can be returned back to taxpayers 21% 46% 3% 29%
    Ensuring that all Australians benefit from Australia’s wealth 31% 34% 6% 29%
    Providing support to the most disadvantaged 34% 27% 9% 29%

    The Liberal Party was considered substantially better than Labor at making the big decisions for the nations future (41% to 28%), managing the economy in uncertain economic times (44%/30% ) and reducing Government spending so money can be retuned back to taxpayers (46%/21%).

    They were also considered a little better at supporting Australian industries to provide jobs (39%/33%). The Labor Party was considered a little better at providing support to the most disadvantaged (34%/27%) and the two parties scored similarly on delivering basic services like health and education, investing in infrastructure including road rail and broadband and ensuring that all Australians benefit from Australia’s wealth.

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  • Jan, 2012

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    Support for Mandatory Pre-commitment

    Q. Do you support or oppose the mandatory pre-commitment proposal to address problem gambling which will require poker machine players to set limits on how much they can lose?

    18 Apr 2011 12 Sept 2011 10 Oct 2011 Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Total support 65% 67% 61% 62% 71% 53% 77%
    Total oppose 21% 25% 30% 25% 17% 35% 15%
    Strongly support 32% 34% 29% 27% 32% 21% 38%
    Support 33% 33% 32% 35% 39% 32% 39%
    Oppose 12% 13% 15% 16% 11% 22% 6%
    Strongly oppose 9% 12% 15% 9% 6% 13% 9%
    Don’t know 13% 9% 9% 14% 12% 12% 9%

    62% of respondents said they support the proposal for mandatory pre-commitment for poker machines and 25% oppose. This represents a small drop in opposition since this issue was last polled in October 2011 – but a similar level of support.

    A majority of all voter and demographic groups supported the proposal.

    Support for the proposal in NSW was 52% with 34% opposed, in Queensland 54%/30% and in Victoria 71%/16%.

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  • Jan, 2012

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    Support for Additional Assistance to Car Industry

    Q. Do you support or oppose the provision of additional assistance by Federal and State governments to ensure US motor companies continue to manufacture cars in Australia?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Total support 58% 67% 63% 45%
    Total oppose 18% 16% 20% 22%
    Strongly support 14% 20% 14% 5%
    Support 44% 47% 49% 40%
    Oppose 12% 12% 14% 13%
    Strongly oppose 6% 4% 6% 9%
    Don’t know 23% 17% 17% 33%

    58% said they supported the provision of additional assistance to the Australian car industry and 18% were opposed.

    Support was highest among Labor voters (67%), aged 55+ (67%) and Victorians (68%).

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  • Jan, 2012

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    Estimate of Jobs in Car Industry

    Q. Do you know how many jobs are in the car industry in Australia?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    500,000 5% 8% 4% 3%
    200,000 9% 8% 10% 12%
    100,000 9% 9% 9% 11%
    50,000 9% 8% 11% 6%
    20,000 3% 4% 3% 5%
    Don’t know 66% 63% 64% 63%

    Only 9% correctly nominated 50,000 as the number of jobs in the car industry in Australia. 66% said they didn’t know and the rest of the responses were spread across all options – suggesting that most who gave an answer were probably guessing.

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  • Jan, 2012

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    Support for Car Industry Jobs

    Q. In fact, the car industry in Australia directly supports about 50,000 jobs. Do you support or oppose the current levels of assistance to support these jobs?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Total support 68% 75% 72% 56%
    Total oppose 12% 9% 13% 17%
    Strongly support 14% 20% 13% 5%
    Support 54% 55% 59% 51%
    Oppose 9% 7% 9% 15%
    Strongly oppose 3% 2% 4% 2%
    Don’t know 20% 15% 15% 27%

    When provided with the information that there are about 50,000 jobs in the Australian car industry, 68% said the supported the current levels of assistance and 12% were opposed. More than 70% of both Labor and Liberal/National voters were in support and more than 60% of all demographic groups also supported the current level of assistance.

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  • Jan, 2012

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    Support for Other Manufacturing Sectors

    Q. Do you think other manufacturing sectors that are under pressure from the high Australian dollar should receive similar assistance from Governments, or do you think the car industry needs special assistance?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Other manufacturing industries should receive similar assistance 62% 61% 66% 68%
    The car industry needs special assistance 12% 15% 15% 9%
    Don’t know 26% 24% 19% 23%

    62% thought that other manufacturing industries should receive similar assistance and only 12% thought the car industry needs special assistance. There were no major differences across demographic and voter groups – although strongest support for similar assistance for other industries came from Greens voters (68%), aged 45+ (69%) and Victorian residents (68%).

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