business, Essential Report, federal politics, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls, voter interests
Q. Do you think the Liberal Party is more concerned about the interests of big business or voters – or do they balance the interests of both?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| More concerned about big business | 41% | 68% | 18% | 67% |
| More concerned about voters | 13% | 8% | 20% | 3% |
| Balance interests of both | 30% | 8% | 56% | 11% |
| Don’t know | 15% | 16% | 7% | 19% |
41% think the Liberal Party are more concerned about the interests of big business and 13% think they are more concerned about voters’ interests. 30% think they balance the interests of both.
Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberal, marriage equality, Nationals, Polling, polls, same sex marriage
Q. Do you think people of the same sex should or should not be allowed to marry?
| 15 Nov 2010 | 14 Mar 2011 | 4 Jul 11 | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Should be allowed to marry | 53% | 49% | 54% | 65% | 41% | 85% |
| Should not be allowed to marry | 36% | 40% | 35% | 23% | 48% | 9% |
| Don’t know | 11% | 10% | 11% | 12% | 10% | 6% |
54% think that people of the same sex should be allowed to marry and 35% think they should not. This represents an increase in support for same-sex marriage since this question was asked in March – however, similar to the result from last November.
Strongest support came from women (62%) and those aged under 35 (63%).
balance of power, Greens, Network Ten, Polling, polls, Senate
Q. From July, the Greens will hold the balance of power in the Senate. Do you think this will be good or bad for Australia? (This question was commissioned by Network Ten).
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Men | Women | Age
18-34 |
Aged
35-54 |
Aged 55+ | |
| Total good | 33% | 44% | 13% | 95% | 32% | 36% | 44% | 34% | 22% |
| Total bad | 45% | 29% | 73% | 1% | 52% | 39% | 29% | 45% | 65% |
| Very good | 10% | 11% | 2% | 56% | 9% | 12% | 12% | 11% | 7% |
| Good | 23% | 33% | 11% | 39% | 23% | 24% | 32% | 23% | 15% |
| Bad | 17% | 21% | 19% | 1% | 18% | 16% | 14% | 19% | 17% |
| Very bad | 28% | 8% | 54% | – | 34% | 23% | 15% | 26% | 48% |
| Make no difference | 11% | 15% | 8% | 2% | 9% | 12% | 13% | 10% | 9% |
| Don’t know | 11% | 11% | 5% | 1% | 8% | 14% | 15% | 11% | 5% |
33% think that the Greens holding the balancer of power in the Senate will be good for Australia and 45% think it will be bad – 11% think it will make no difference. Labor voters are more likely to think it will be good (44% good to 29% bad) while Liberal/National voters overwhelmingly think it will be bad (73%).
Women (36% good/39% bad) were somewhat more positive than men (32% good/52% bad) while younger respondents were much more likely to think it would be good than older respondents.
2PP, Essential Report, 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 = 1,874
| First preference/leaning to | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Liberal | 44% | 44% | 45% | 45% | |
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |
| Total Lib/Nat | 43.6 | 47% | 46% | 47% | 48% |
| Labor | 38.0 | 34% | 34% | 32% | 32% |
| Greens | 11.8 | 12% | 12% | 12% | 11% |
| Other/Independent | 6.6 | 8% | 8% | 9% | 9% |
| 2PP | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Total Lib/Nat | 49.9% | 54% | 54% | 55% | 55% |
| Labor | 50.1% | 46% | 46% | 45% | 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.
approval, Essential Report, federal politics, Julia Gillard, kevin rudd, Labor, Liberal, Polling, polls, preferred PM, Prime Minister
Q. If Kevin Rudd was the leader of the Labor Party (and Tony Abbott was leader of the Liberal Party), to which party will you probably give your first preference vote if a Federal Election was held today? If not sure, which party would you lean toward?
| First preference | Total | Gave vote |
| Liberal | 36% | 39% |
| National | 3% | 3% |
| Total Lib/Nat | 39% | 42% |
| Labor | 41% | 45% |
| Greens | 7% | 8% |
| Other/Independent | 5% | 6% |
| Don’t know | 8% |
If Kevin Rudd was leader of the Labor Party (and Tony Abbott was leader of the Liberal Party) 45% said they would give their first preference vote to Labor (up 13%) and 42% to the Liberal or National Parties (down 6%). The Greens vote drops 3% to 8%.
In two party preferred terms, this equates to 53% Labor/47% Liberal/National – a swing of 8% to Labor.
Most of the increased Labor vote comes from Liberal/National voters – 12% of Liberal/National voters said they would vote Labor if Kevin Rudd was leader.
Groups with the largest shifts to Labor were women, aged under 35, NSW and lower incomes.
Essential Report, federal politics, Julia Gillard, Labor, Liberal, malcolm turnbull, Polling, polls, preferred PM, Prime Minister
Q. If Malcolm Turnbull was the leader of the Liberal Party (and Julia Gillard was leader of the Labor Party), to which party will you probably give your first preference vote if a Federal Election was held today? If not sure, which party would you lean toward?
| First preference | Total | Gave vote |
| Liberal | 44% | 49% |
| National | 4% | 4% |
| Total Lib/Nat | 48% | 53% |
| Labor | 28% | 31% |
| Greens | 7% | 8% |
| Other/Independent | 7% | 8% |
| Don’t know | 10% |
If Malcolm Turnbull was leader of the Liberal Party (and Julia Gillard was leader of the Labor Party) 31% said they would give their first preference vote to Labor (down 1%) and 53% to the Liberal or National Parties (up 5%). The Greens vote drops 3% to 8%.
In two party preferred terms, this equates to 41% Labor/59% Liberal/National – a swing of 4% to Liberal/National.
Most of the increased Liberal/National vote comes from Labor voters – 13% of Labor voters said they would vote Liberal if Malcolm Turnbull was leader.
The group with the largest shift to Liberal/National was people on higher incomes.
approval, Essential Report, Julia Gillard, Labor, leader attributes, Liberal, Polling, polls, Prime Minister, tony abbott
Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard?
| 5 Jul 10 | 4 Oct 10 | 7 Feb 11 | 27 Jun 11 | Difference | |
| Intelligent | 87% | 81% | 75% | 73% | -2% |
| Hard-working | 89% | 82% | 76% | 75% | -1% |
| A capable leader | 72% | 59% | 52% | 42% | -10% |
| Arrogant | 37% | 39% | 44% | 48% | +4% |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 35% | 44% | 50% | 60% | +10% |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 68% | 55% | 52% | 44% | -8% |
| Visionary | 48% | 38% | 30% | 26% | -4% |
| Superficial | 51% | 52% | +1% | ||
| Good in a crisis | 61% | 46% | 46% | 41% | -5% |
| Narrow-minded | 28% | 35% | 43% | 46% | +3% |
| More honest than most politicians | 45% | 37% | 37% | 29% | -8% |
| Trustworthy | 49% | 42% | 40% | 30% | -10% |
Julia Gillard’s key attributes were hard-working (75%), intelligent (73%) and out of touch with ordinary people (60%).
Major changes since this question was asked in February were an increase of 10% for out of touch (to 60%) and decreases for a capable leader (down 10% to 42%) and trustworthy (down 10% to 30%).
approval, Essential Report, Federal Government, Julia Gillard, Labor, leader attributes, Liberal, Polling, polls, Prime Minister, tony abbott
Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott?
| 5 Jul 10 | 4 Oct 10 | 7 Feb 11 | 27 Jun 11 | Change | |
| Intelligent | 70% | 71% | 64% | 61% | -3% |
| Hard-working | 76% | 78% | 72% | 75% | +3% |
| A capable leader | 47% | 52% | 48% | 45% | -3% |
| Arrogant | 59% | 60% | 58% | 60% | +2% |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 57% | 53% | 54% | 57% | +3% |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 50% | 53% | 50% | 48% | -2% |
| Visionary | 32% | 31% | 27% | 27% | – |
| Superficial | 45% | 49% | +4% | ||
| Good in a crisis | 40% | 42% | 41% | 40% | -1% |
| Narrow-minded | 56% | 53% | 51% | 54% | +3% |
| More honest than most politicians | 33% | 32% | 31% | 32% | +1% |
| Trustworthy | 33% | 35% | 34% | 32% | -2% |
Tony Abbott’s key attributes were hard-working (75%), intelligent (61%) and arrogant (60%).
There have only been minor changes since this question was asked in February.