Essential Report

Protest Activity

Nov 12, 2019

Q. Have you personally ever taken part in any of the following…?

	Total	Gender		Age
	Total	Male	Female	18-34	35-54	55+
Signed an online petition	44%	39%	48%	45%	44%	42%
Signed a written petition	39%	37%	41%	33%	34%	50%
Attended a march or rally	17%	18%	16%	24%	12%	16%
Gone on strike from work	13%	18%	8%	13%	10%	14%
Signed up to an online political campaign	10%	11%	10%	16%	9%	7%
None of these	37%	39%	35%	31%	41%	39%
NET: Any of these	63%	61%	65%	69%	59%	61%
Base (n)	1,075	526	549	327	371	377

Almost two-thirds (63%) of people have ever participated in a protest activity – either attending a strike or rally, or signing up to a petition or campaign.
Signing online and written petitions are the most popular forms of protest (44% and 39% respectively have done this). Less than a fifth have ever a march or rally (17%) and 13% have been on strike.
Women are more likely than men to have signed petitions (48% to 39% for online petitions and 41% to 37% for written petitions), while men are more likely to have been on strike (18% to 8%).
People aged 18-34 are more likely than other to have attended a protest or rally (24% compared to 14% of those aged 35+).

	Total	Voting Intention
	Total	Labor	Coalition	Greens	NET: Other
Signed an online petition	44%	43%	37%	71%	59%
Signed a written petition	39%	37%	39%	51%	50%
Attended a march or rally	17%	16%	13%	43%	21%
Gone on strike from work	13%	17%	10%	12%	12%
Signed up to an online political campaign	10%	11%	9%	18%	13%
None of these	37%	38%	39%	18%	31%
NET: Any of these	63%	62%	61%	82%	69%
Base (n)	1,075	325	377	107	155

Greens voters are most likely to have participated in any activity (82%), with signing online petitions (71%), written petitions (51%) and attending marches or rallies (43%) being most popular.
Those with a university education are more likely to have participated in protest activities are (69% to 60% of all others). They are more likely to have attended a march or rally (24% to 14%), gone on strike (18% to 10%) and signed up to an online campaign (16% to 8%).

View the latest Essential Report on our new and improved website here.