Concern about Muslims, EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Greens, Islam, Labor, Liberal, Muslim, Muslims, Polling, polls, Religion, Religion Issues, religious concern
Q. Are you concerned about the number of Muslim people in Australia?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total concerned | 57% | 50% | 69% | 32% |
| Total not concerned | 38% | 46% | 28% | 68% |
| Very Concerned | 28% | 21% | 37% | 12% |
| Somewhat concerned | 29% | 29% | 32% | 20% |
| Not very concerned | 21% | 23% | 19% | 27% |
| Not at all concerned | 17% | 23% | 9% | 41% |
| Don’t know/Refused | 5% | 4% | 2% | – |
57% were very or somewhat concerned about the number of Muslim people in Australia while 38% were not very or not at all concerned. Concern is higher among Liberal/National voters (69%) and lower among Greens voters (32%). 72% of people aged 55+ say they are concerned.
Level of concern is related to perceptions of the number of Muslim people in Australia. The table below shows that those who think there are higher numbers of Muslims in Australia are much more likely to be concerned.
| Estimated % Muslims in Australia | |||||
| Total | 1-2% | 3-5% | 6-10% | Over 10% | |
| Total concerned | 57% | 44% | 52% | 68% | 79% |
| Total not concerned | 38% | 54% | 46% | 31% | 19% |
Buddhism, Christianity, EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Greens, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Labor, Liberal, Muslim, Polling, polls, Religion, Religion Issues
Q. Which of the following religions do you think has grown the fastest in Australia during the 10 years between 1996 and 2006, when the last national census was taken?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Christianity (including Catholic, Uniting Church, Anglican, etc) | 8% | 7% | 11% | 7% |
| Hinduism | 3% | 2% | 3% | 4% |
| Islam (Muslim) | 57% | 58% | 64% | 50% |
| Buddhism | 5% | 3% | 4% | 11% |
| Judaism (Jewish) | * | 1% | – | – |
| Don’t know/Refuse | 27% | 29% | 19% | 27% |
57% believe that Islam is the fastest growing religion in Australia. This perception is broadly similar across all age/gender groups – although a little higher for Liberal/National voters (64%) and those aged 55+ (65%).
EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Greens, Islam, Labor, Liberal, Muslim, Muslims, Polling, polls, Religion, Religion Issues
Q. What percentage of Australian residents do you think are Muslim?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| 1% | 6% | 6% | 7% | 8% |
| 2% | 11% | 10% | 14% | 9% |
| 3-5% | 26% | 26% | 25% | 37% |
| 6-10% | 20% | 19% | 22% | 18% |
| More than 10% | 19% | 20% | 19% | 17% |
| Don’t know | 18% | 20% | 13% | 11% |
17% think that Muslims make up 1-2% of Australia’s population, 26% think they make up 3-5% and 39% think it is over 5%. The actual figure is 1.7% – meaning 65% have over-estimated the number of Muslims in Australia.
There were only minor differences between age, gender and voter groups.
Buddhism, EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Greens, Hinduism, Islam, Labor, Liberal, Muslim, Muslims, Polling, polls, Religion, Religion Issues
Q. The 2006 Census figures show that in fact the fastest growing religions in Australia are Hinduism, Buddhism and then Islam. Presently, only 1.71% of the Australian population identifies as Muslim. In light of this information, how concerned are you about the number of Muslim people in Australia?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total concerned | 50% | 43% | 62% | 22% |
| Total not concerned | 45% | 54% | 35% | 76% |
| Very Concerned | 22% | 18% | 29% | 11% |
| Somewhat concerned | 28% | 25% | 33% | 11% |
| Not very concerned | 26% | 27% | 24% | 32% |
| Not at all concerned | 19% | 27% | 11% | 44% |
| Don’t know | 5% | 4% | 4% | 1% |
After being given some information about the number of Muslims in Australia, 50% said they were still very/somewhat concerned and 45% said they were not very or not at all concerned. This represents a 7% fall in level of concern from the question asked before this information was given to respondents.
All demographic and voter groups showed a similar fall in level of concern.
EMC, ER, Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Polling, polls, Race, Race issues, Racism, Religion, Religion Issues
Q. Do you think some politicians raise issues of race and religion for political purposes just to generate votes or do you think these politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Some politicians raise issues of race and religion for political purposes just to generate votes | 61% | 66% | 55% | 80% |
| These politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future | 27% | 21% | 37% | 14% |
| Don’t know | 12% | 12% | 7% | 5% |
61% believed that some politicians raise issues of race and religion for political purposes just to generate votes and 27% thought these politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future.
Those most likely to think these politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future were Liberal/National voters (37%) – and among people aged 55+, 34% thought these politicians are genuinely concerned about Australia’s future and 58% thought they use race and religion for political purposes.