01 July 2013, 010713, Australian troops, Troops in Afghanistan
Q. Thinking about the Australian troops in Afghanistan, do you think Australia should –
|
Jun 2010 |
May 2011 |
Nov 2011 |
Mar 2012 |
Sept 2012 |
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Increase the number of troops in Afghanistan |
7% |
6% |
3% |
4% |
4% |
2% |
2% |
2% |
– |
||
| Keep the same number of troops in Afghanistan |
24% |
36% |
22% |
22% |
23% |
16% |
14% |
22% |
11% |
||
| Withdraw our troops from Afghanistan |
61% |
48% |
64% |
64% |
62% |
69% |
72% |
64% |
70% |
||
| Don’t know |
8% |
11% |
11% |
10% |
11% |
13% |
12% |
12% |
19% |
Support for withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan increased to 69% from 62% last September. Support for increasing or maintaining troops in Afghanistan dropped from 27% to 18%.
65% of men and 73% of women favour withdrawal of troops.
Support for withdrawing Australian troops has increased for all voter groups – up 12 points to 72% for Labor voters, up 6 points to 64% for Liberal/National voters and up 5 points to 70% for Greens voters.
19 March 2012, 190312, afghanistan, Australian Defence Force, Australian Military, Australian troops, Polling, polls, Troops in Afghanistan
Q. Thinking about the Australian troops in Afghanistan, do you think Australia should –
|
25 Oct 2010 |
21 Mar 2011 |
29 Aug |
21 Nov |
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Increase the number of troops in Afghanistan |
10% |
5% |
4% |
3% |
4% |
4% |
4% |
6% |
| Keep the same number of troops in Afghanistan |
30% |
30% |
26% |
22% |
22% |
21% |
27% |
18% |
| Withdraw our troops from Afghanistan |
47% |
56% |
64% |
64% |
64% |
64% |
62% |
69% |
| Don’t know |
14% |
9% |
7% |
11% |
10% |
11% |
7% |
6% |
64% (no change since November 2011) think Australia should withdraw our troops from Afghanistan, 22% (no change) think we should maintain troop numbers and 4% (up 1%) think we should increase them.
In the past 12 months, support for withdrawal of Australian troops has increased from 56% to 64%. There was majority support for withdrawal by all voting groups – 62% of Lib/Nat voters, 64% Labor and 69% Greens. Support for withdrawal was 71% among people aged 55+ and women were more likely than men to support withdrawal of troops (69% to 59%).
Australian involvement in Afghanistan, Essential Report, Polling, Troops in Afghanistan
Q. Thinking about the Australian troops in Afghanistan, do you think Australia should –
| 25 Oct 2010 | 21 Mar 2011 | Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Increase the number of troops in Afghanistan | 10% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 3% | 3% |
| Keep the same number of troops in Afghanistan | 30% | 30% | 26% | 26% | 32% | 15% |
| Withdraw our troops from Afghanistan | 47% | 56% | 64% | 61% | 60% | 75% |
| Don’t know | 14% | 9% | 7% | 7% | 5% | 6% |
64% (up 8%) think Australia should withdraw our troops from Afghanistan, 26% (down 4%) think we should maintain troop numbers and 4% (down 1%) think we should increase them.
Since October last year, support for withdrawal of Australian troops has increased from 47% to 64%. There was majority support for withdrawal by all voting groups – 60% of Lib/Nat voters, 61% labor and 75% Greens. Support for withdrawal was also similar across age, gender and income.
ADF, afghanistan, Afghanistan War, Australian Defence Force, Australian troops, EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls, Troops in Afghanistan
Q. Thinking about the Australian troops in Afghanistan, do you think Australia should –
| 25 Oct 10 | 21 Mar 11 | Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Increase the number of troops in Afghanistan | 10% | 5% | 6% | 4% | 8% | 1% |
| Keep the same number of troops in Afghanistan | 30% | 30% | 36% | 37% | 43% | 25% |
| Withdraw our troops from Afghanistan | 47% | 56% | 48% | 49% | 41% | 65% |
| Don’t know | 14% | 9% | 11% | 10% | 8% | 9% |
42% think that the Australian troops in Afghanistan should be increased or maintained and 48% think Australia should withdraw its troops. This is a significant drop (-8%) in support for withdrawal since this question was last asked in March.
afghanistan, Afghanistan War, EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Polling, polls, troops, Troops in Afghanistan
Q. Thinking about the Australian troops in Afghanistan, do you think Australia should –
| 25 Oct 2010 | Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Increase the number of troops in Afghanistan | 10% | 5% | 7% | 6% | 1% |
| Keep the same number of troops in Afghanistan | 30% | 30% | 26% | 39% | 16% |
| Withdraw our troops from Afghanistan | 47% | 56% | 62% | 48% | 74% |
| Don’t know | 14% | 9% | 5% | 7% | 9% |
35% think that the Australian troops in Afghanistan should be increased or maintained and 56% think Australia should withdraw its troops. This is a significant shift (+9%) in favour of withdrawal since this question was last asked in October 2010.
62% of Labor voters and 74% of Greens voters support withdrawal. Liberal/National voters are split – 48% support withdrawal and 45 support increasing/maintaining troop numbers.
Males were more likely than females to state that Australia should increase the number of troops in Afghanistan (9% compared to 2% of females) or keep the same number of troops in Afghanistan (36% compared to 24% of females).
However, the majority of both males (49%) and females (63%) think Australia should withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
Australian troops, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Troops in Afghanistan, war in Afghanistan
Q. Thinking about the Australian troops in Afghanistan, do you think Australia should –
| Total
25 Oct 10 |
Labor | Liberal | Greens | 30 March 09 | 21 June 10 | 11 Oct 10 | ||
| Increase the number of troops in Afghanistan |
10% |
10% |
12% |
10% |
14% |
7% |
13% |
|
| Keep the same number of troops in Afghanistan |
30% |
31% |
34% |
23% |
24% |
24% |
24% |
|
| Withdraw our troops from Afghanistan | 47% | 49% | 45% | 55% | 50% | 61% | 49% | |
| Don’t know | 14% | 10% | 8% | 12% | 12% | 8% | 14% |
47% say Australia should withdraw our troops from Afghanistan, 30% say we should keep the same number and 10% say we should increase troop numbers. The support for keeping the same number of troops in Afghanistan has increased by 6% since previous surveys.
Support for withdrawal is highest among Greens voters (55%) and those on higher incomes (54% of those earning over $1,600 per week).
Support for maintaining or increasing troop numbers is highest among Liberal/National voters (46%), men (46%) and those aged 55+ (48%).
afghanistan, ALP, EMC, Essential Report, peter lewis, The Drum, Troops in Afghanistan, war in Afghanistan
First Published on The Drum 12/10/2010
Attempting to manage public confidence in the war in Afghanistan, the Labor Party is exposing its left flank in a way that calls into question three decades of political centrism.
These are challenging times for the ALP, with minority control in Canberra, hand-wringing election post mortems and flagging state administrations around the nation. A key theme appears to be ‘Labor has lost its way’.
But what is the ALP way? Since at least the Whitlam era, Labor orthodoxy has been that the occupation of the centre ground was a precondition for electoral success. Careers were built on the tough work of shifting Labor from ideological dogma to more pragmatic policies.
afghanistan, Afghanistan War, Australian Military, Australian troops, Troops in Afghanistan
Q. Thinking about the Australian troops in Afghanistan, do you think Australia should –
| Total
11 Oct 10 |
Labor | Liberal | Greens | 21 June 10 | March 09 | ||
| Increase the number of troops in Afghanistan | 13% | 10% | 20% | 6% | 7% | 14% | |
| Keep the same number of troops in Afghanistan | 24% | 26% | 29% | 14% | 24% | 24% | |
| Withdraw our troops from Afghanistan | 49% | 50% | 41% | 73% | 61% | 50% | |
| Don’t know | 14% | 14% | 10% | 7% | 8% | 12% |
49% of respondents believe Australia should withdraw our troops from Afghanistan, 24% think we should keep the same number and 13% think the numbers should be increased.
Support for withdrawal has dropped from the 61% recorded in June but is similar to the result recorded in March last year.
50% of Labor voters and 73% of Greens voters support withdrawal but 49% of Liberal/National voters favour maintaining or increasing the number of troops.