Approval of Bob Brown
Q. Last week Bob Brown resigned from Parliament and the leadership of the Greens, after 16 years as a member of the Senate. Do you approve or disapprove of the performance of Bob Brown over his 16 years in Parliament?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Total approve |
42% |
60% |
24% |
89% |
Total disapprove |
34% |
15% |
56% |
1% |
Strongly approve |
9% |
14% |
3% |
38% |
Approve |
33% |
46% |
21% |
51% |
Disapprove |
19% |
13% |
29% |
1% |
Strongly disapprove |
15% |
2% |
27% |
– |
Don’t know |
24% |
25% |
20% |
10 |
42% approve the performance of Bob Brown over his 16 years in Parliament and 34% disapprove. A majority of Greens voters (89%) and Labor voters (60%) approve but 56% of Liberal/National voters disapprove.
Men split 40% approve/41% disapprove compared to women 43% approve/28% disapprove.
By age group, approval/disapproval was 46%/21% for under 35’s, 43%/31% for 35-54’s and 35%/56% for 55+.
Best Leader of the Labor Party
Q. Which of the following do you think would make the best leader of the Labor Party?
30 May 2011 |
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
Julia Gillard |
23% |
16% |
40% |
4% |
21% |
Kevin Rudd |
32% |
31% |
33% |
32% |
32% |
Wayne Swan |
2% |
4% |
6% |
4% |
5% |
Greg Combet |
4% |
2% |
1% |
2% |
2% |
Bill Shorten |
3% |
6% |
8% |
5% |
3% |
Someone else |
19% |
23% |
6% |
33% |
18% |
Don’t know |
17% |
17% |
6% |
19% |
19% |
33% think Kevin Rudd would make the best leader of the Labor Party and 16% prefer Julia Gillard. This represents declines of 1% for Kevin Rudd and 7% for Julia Gillard since this question was asked nearly 12 months ago. Those selecting “someone else” has increased from 19% to 23%.
Julia Gillard is preferred by 40% of Labor voters compared to 33% for Kevin Rudd. Men prefer Kevin Rudd over Julia Gillard 33% to 16% and women by 28% to 17%.
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.
Personal Benefit from Mining Boom
Q. How much have you personally benefited from Australia’s mining boom?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
A lot |
2% |
3% |
2% |
1% |
Somewhat |
5% |
8% |
4% |
2% |
A little |
12% |
14% |
12% |
11% |
Not at all |
66% |
62% |
70% |
67% |
Don’t know |
14% |
13% |
12% |
19 |
Only 7% think they have benefited a lot or somewhat from Australia’s mining boom. 78% believe they have benefited a little or not at all.
Those most likely to say they have not benefited at all were women (71%), aged 55+ (74%) and those on incomes under $600 pw (72%).
Mining Companies’ Tax
Q. Overall, do you think mining companies pay too much tax, not enough tax or about the right amount of tax?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Pay too much tax |
11% |
8% |
15% |
2% |
Don’t pay enough tax |
37% |
54% |
25% |
63% |
Pay about the right amount of tax |
27% |
18% |
37% |
6% |
Don’t know |
25% |
20% |
22% |
29% |
37% think mining companies don’t pay enough tax, 27% think they pay about the right amount and 11% think they pay too much.
Groups most likely to think they don’t pay enough were men (42%), aged 35-54 (41%) and those earning over $1,600 pw (44%).
Opinion of Mining Tax
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the proposed mining tax (called the Minerals Resource Rent Tax) on large profits of mining companies?
12 Jul 2010 |
5 Sep 2011 |
21 Nov |
20 Feb 2012 |
12 Mar 2012 |
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
Total approve |
50% |
46% |
51% |
55% |
52% |
51% |
77% |
35% |
77% |
Total disapprove |
28% |
34% |
33% |
28% |
34% |
29% |
8% |
50% |
7% |
Strongly approve |
13% |
18% |
18% |
23% |
20% |
19% |
36% |
8% |
41% |
Approve |
37% |
28% |
33% |
32% |
32% |
32% |
41% |
27% |
36% |
Disapprove |
18% |
18% |
20% |
17% |
22% |
20% |
6% |
33% |
7% |
Strongly disapprove |
10% |
16% |
13% |
11% |
12% |
9% |
2% |
17% |
– |
Don’t know |
22% |
19% |
15% |
17% |
14% |
20% |
16% |
15% |
16% |
51% approve the Government’s proposed mining tax and 29% disapprove. This represents a strengthening in support over the last 6 weeks (from net +18% to net +22%).
Labor voters (77%) and Greens voters (77%) strongly support the tax – but Liberal/National voters disapprove 50% to 35%.
State Government – Co-operate or Compete
Q. When it comes to business expansion and investment in Australia, do you think that State Governments should co-operate with each other to attract business and investment or should they compete for business and investment by offering lower taxes and less regulation?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Should co-operate |
67% |
74% |
64% |
78% |
Should compete |
17% |
16% |
23% |
5% |
Don’t know |
15% |
10% |
14% |
16% |
67% believe that State Governments should co-operate with each other to attract business and investment and 17% think they should compete for business and investment by offering lower taxes and less regulation.
23% of Liberal/National voters, 21% of men and 21% of NSW respondents think they should compete. Those most likely to think they should co-operate were Greens voters (78%), Labor voters (74%) and Queensland respondents (73%).
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 = 1,902 respondents
First preference/leaning to |
Election 21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago 12/3/12 |
2 weeks ago 26/3/12 |
Last week 2/4/12 |
This week 10/4/12 |
Liberal |
|
46% |
45% |
46% |
47% |
National |
|
3% |
3% |
3% |
3% |
Total Lib/Nat |
43.6% |
49% |
47% |
48% |
50% |
Labor |
38.0% |
31% |
34% |
33% |
31% |
Greens |
11.8% |
10% |
10% |
11% |
11% |
Other/Independent |
6.6% |
10% |
9% |
8% |
9% |
2PP |
Election 21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago |
2 weeks ago |
Last week |
This week |
Total Lib/Nat |
49.9% |
57% |
54% |
55% |
57% |
Labor |
50.1% |
43% |
46% |
45% |
43% |
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.

COVID-19 RESEARCH
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In this week's report:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Views towards re-electing the federal Coalition government
- Party trust to handle issues
- Importance of Australia’s international reputation
- Scott Morrison’s impact on Australia’s international reputation
- Views towards Australia’s international reputation
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