19 March 2012, 190312, Polling, polls, Union, union movement, unions, workers, working people
Q. Overall, do you think unions have been good or bad for Australian working people?
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Work full time |
Work part time |
|
Total good |
48% |
72% |
31% |
70% |
48% |
48% |
Total bad |
17% |
6% |
31% |
3% |
18% |
18% |
Very good |
12% |
26% |
4% |
21% |
13% |
10% |
Good |
36% |
46% |
27% |
49% |
35% |
38% |
Neither good nor bad |
28% |
19% |
34% |
16% |
28% |
29% |
Bad |
11% |
4% |
19% |
3% |
12% |
10% |
Very bad |
6% |
2% |
12% |
– |
6% |
8% |
Don’t know |
6% |
3% |
4% |
10% |
6% |
5% |
48% think that unions have been good for Australian working people, 17% think they have been bad, and 28% think they have been neither good nor bad.
72% of Labor voters and 70% of Greens voters think they have been good and Liberal/National voters are split 31% good/31% bad.
There was no difference between the views of workers and non-workers and very little difference be age, gender or income.
19 March 2012, 190312, Polling, polls, Union, union movement, unions, workers, working people
Q. And how important are unions for Australian working people today?
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Work full time |
Work part time |
|
Total very/quite important |
56% |
80% |
39% |
71% |
55% |
57% |
Very important |
19% |
34% |
8% |
31% |
18% |
16% |
Quite important |
37% |
46% |
31% |
40% |
37% |
41% |
Not very important |
27% |
12% |
39% |
21% |
30% |
31% |
Not at all important |
8% |
2% |
16% |
– |
8% |
8% |
Don’t know |
9% |
6% |
6% |
7% |
7% |
5% |
56% think that unions are very or quite important for Australian working people today.
80% of Labor voters and 71% of Greens voters think they are important compared to only 39% of Liberal/National voters.
There was little difference by age and gender groups – but those on lower incomes were a little more likely to think unions are important (63% of those earning less than $1,000pw).