Most beneficial country to strengthen our relationship with
Q. Given the choice between the United States of America and China, which country do you think it would be most beneficial for Australia strengthen our relationship with?
| Gender | Age Group | ||||||
| Total | Male | Female | Labor | NET: Coalition | Greens | NET: Other | |
| United States of America | 42% | 46% | 39% | 36% | 56% | 16% | 48% |
| China | 18% | 22% | 15% | 22% | 15% | 25% | 15% |
| Neither | 24% | 20% | 27% | 29% | 18% | 37% | 26% |
| Don’t know | 16% | 11% | 19% | 12% | 10% | 21% | 10% |
| Base (n) | 1,087 | 534 | 553 | 323 | 428 | 100 | 120 |
| May’20 | Aug’19 | Change | |
| United States of America | 42% | 38% | 4% |
| China | 18% | 28% | -10% |
| Neither | 24% | 18% | 6% |
| Don’t know | 16% | 15% | 1% |
| Base | 1,087 | 1,096 | – |
- Now 42% of participants believe it would be more beneficial to strength our relationship with the United States of America (up 4%), but a quarter say we should strengthen our relationship with neither country (24%, up 6%).
- Coalition voters are most likely to say we should strengthen our relationship with America (56%), while Greens voters would prefer to strengthen our relationship with neither country (37%).
Increasing US military presence in Australia
Q. Would you approve or disapprove of increasing the US military aircraft stationed in Australia to counter China’s growing military power?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other/ Indep- endent |
|||
|
Total approve |
42% |
39% |
56% |
19% |
44% |
||
|
Total disapprove |
32% |
38% |
19% |
56% |
42% |
||
|
Strongly approve |
12% |
10% |
15% |
6% |
16% |
||
|
Approve |
30% |
29% |
41% |
13% |
28% |
||
|
Disapprove |
19% |
21% |
13% |
31% |
23% |
||
|
Strongly disapprove |
13% |
17% |
6% |
25% |
19% |
||
|
Don’t know |
25% |
23% |
24% |
25% |
14% |
||
42% approve and 32% disapprove of increasing the US military aircraft stationed in Australia to counter China’s growing military power. Those most likely to approve were Liberal/National voters (56%) and men (50%). 36% of women approve and 33% disapprove.
Those with university education were split 39% approve/41% disapprove.
Approval of US drone strikes
Q. The United States has a policy of targeting terrorists with remote controlled drone strikes in countries such as Afghanistan and Yemen. These attacks also sometimes kill and injure nearby civilians. Do you approve or disapprove of this policy?
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote Other |
|
| Total approve |
35% |
30% |
48% |
19% |
33% |
|
| Total disapprove |
45% |
50% |
33% |
63% |
51% |
|
| Strongly approve |
11% |
7% |
16% |
4% |
15% |
|
| Approve |
24% |
23% |
32% |
15% |
18% |
|
| Disapprove |
28% |
32% |
25% |
24% |
26% |
|
| Strongly disapprove |
17% |
18% |
8% |
39% |
25% |
|
| Don’t know |
21% |
19% |
19% |
18% |
16% |
35% approve of the US policy of targeting terrorists with remote controlled drone strikes and 45% disapprove.
A majority of Labor voters (50%), Greens voters (63%) and other voters (51%) disapprove while Liberal/National voters were more likely to approve (48% approve/33% disapprove).
Men were more likely to approve (47% approve/39% disapprove) while women were more likely to disapprove (23% approve/51% disapprove).
Change in relationships with other countries
Q. Would you like to see Australia’s relationship with these countries get closer, stay the same or become less close?
|
|
Get closer |
Stay the same |
Become less close |
Don’t know |
|
Get closer 28 Mar 11 |
Get closer 14 Nov 11 |
Change |
| China |
29% |
50% |
9% |
12% |
|
32% |
35% |
-6 |
| New Zealand |
26% |
59% |
4% |
11% |
|
37% |
33% |
-7 |
| Indonesia |
25% |
47% |
16% |
12% |
|
21% |
23% |
+2 |
| India |
24% |
47% |
15% |
14% |
|
19% |
23% |
+1 |
| Japan |
22% |
59% |
7% |
13% |
|
26% |
24% |
-2 |
| United Kingdom |
21% |
62% |
6% |
10% |
|
25% |
19% |
+2 |
| United States |
21% |
59% |
10% |
10% |
|
24% |
18% |
+3 |
| Germany |
18% |
59% |
7% |
16% |
|
18% |
20% |
-2 |
| South Africa |
12% |
57% |
14% |
16% |
|
13% |
14% |
-2 |
29% favour closer relations with China, 26% with New Zealand, 25% with Indonesia and 24% with India.
Liberal/National voters are more likely to favour closer relationships with United States (25%).
Greens voters are more likely to favour closer relationships with Indonesia (34%), Japan (34%) and India (44%),
Since this question was asked last year, the percentages wanting a closer relationship with the China (-7%) and the New Zealand (-6%) have declined.
US Heading in Right/Wrong Direction
Q. Overall, do you think the United States is heading in the right direction/wrong direction?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Right direction |
39% |
46% |
37% |
45% |
| Wrong direction |
23% |
18% |
29% |
19% |
| Don’t know |
38% |
36% |
34% |
36% |
39% think the US is heading in the right direction, 23% in the wrong direction and 38% don’t know.
46% of Labor voters and 45% of Greens voters think the US is heading in the right direction, while 29% of Liberal/National voters think it is heading in the wrong direction.
Importance of Relationships with Other Countries
Q. How important is it for Australia to have a close relationship with the following nations?
| Very important | Quite important | Not very important | Don’t know | Very Important 15 Nov | Change | ||
| New Zealand | 69% | 24% | 4% | 3% | 54% | +15 | |
| United States | 60% | 33% | 5% | 2% | 56% | +4 | |
| United Kingdom | 56% | 35% | 6% | 3% | 44% | +12 | |
| China | 48% | 42% | 6% | 4% | 45% | +3 | |
| Japan | 39% | 47% | 9% | 4% | 30% | +9 | |
| Indonesia | 31% | 43% | 20% | 6% | 30% | +1 | |
| India | 26% | 42% | 26% | 5% | 24% | +2 | |
| Germany | 23% | 42% | 29% | 6% | 15% | +8 | |
| South Africa | 16% | 36% | 39% | 8% | 12% | +4 |
More than half the respondents think it is very important to have close relationships with the New Zealand (69%), United States (60%) and the United Kingdom (56%) and just under half think it is very important to have a close relationship with China (48%).
A close relationship with the United States is considered very important by 70% of Liberal/National voters and 57% of Labor voters and 48% of Greens voters.
Since this question was asked in November, there have been substantial increases in the rating of the importance of relations with New Zealand (+15%), United Kingdom (+12%) and Japan (+9%).
Change in Relationships with Other Countries
Q. Would you like to see Australia’s relationship with these countries get closer, stay the same or become less close?
| Get closer | Stay the same | Become less close | Don’t know | Get closer
15 Nov |
Change | ||
| New Zealand | 37% | 55% | 3% | 5% | 29% | +8 | |
| China | 32% | 52% | 9% | 7% | 30% | +2 | |
| Japan | 26% | 59% | 8% | 7% | 21% | +5 | |
| United Kingdom | 25% | 62% | 7% | 5% | 20% | +5 | |
| United States | 24% | 61% | 11% | 5% | 20% | +4 | |
| Indonesia | 21% | 51% | 20% | 8% | 23% | -2 | |
| India | 19% | 53% | 18% | 9% | 22% | -3 | |
| Germany | 18% | 62% | 10% | 10% | 14% | +4 | |
| South Africa | 13% | 59% | 17% | 11% | 11% | +2 |
37% think that Australia’s relationship with New Zealand should get closer and 32% think our relationship with China should get closer.
Labor voters are most likely to favour closer relationships with China (31%) and New Zealand (31%).
Liberal/National voters are most likely to favour closer relationships with New Zealand (42%) and United States (34%).
Greens voters are most likely to favour closer relationships with New Zealand (43%), China (38%) and Japan (34%).
Since this question was asked in November, the percentage wanting a closer relationship with New Zealand has increased 8%, and increased 5% for Japan and the United Kingdom.
Nothing to Barack about
First Published on The Drum 16/11/2010
If the mid-term drubbings and G20 currency fisticuffs with China are not enough, Barack Obama will return home with more bad news: Australians think his nation has lost its mojo.
While Julia Gillard and entourage were all smiles at the official photo call, they politely chose not to disclose they were representing a nation that thinks the USA is in decline.
In fact, 60 per cent of all surveyed in this week’s Essential Report see the American Empire’s influence becoming weaker, with just 20 per cent believing the USA’s influence on the world is on the rise.
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