Type of volunteering engaged with
Q. Which, if any, of the following types of organisations do you currently volunteer for?
| Age | Employment Status | ||||||
| Total | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | In paid employment | Not in paid employment | Retired | |
| Organisations providing support services, such as volunteer fire services, animal rescue and other charities | 16% | 25% | 11% | 12% | 18% | 10% | 13% |
| Sports clubs or arts-based organisations | 14% | 22% | 10% | 10% | 17% | 10% | 9% |
| Volunteer organisations linked with schools (e.g. reading support) | 11% | 16% | 13% | 5% | 16% | 6% | 5% |
| Organisations promoting causes, such as environmental groups, political campaigns | 10% | 18% | 9% | 5% | 14% | 6% | 6% |
| Church or faith-based organisations | 9% | 11% | 9% | 8% | 10% | 7% | 9% |
| Community organisations, such as Scouts or historical societies | 9% | 14% | 5% | 7% | 10% | 6% | 10% |
| None of these | 59% | 44% | 64% | 66% | 53% | 71% | 62% |
| Base (n) | 1,090 | 341 | 374 | 375 | 592 | 243 | 222 |
- 41% of participants volunteer at one of the listed organisations – with organisations providing support services (16%) most frequently selected.
- 18-34 year olds, university educated and participants working in paid employment are more likely to volunteer for any listed organisation.
- Capital city residents and those with dependent children are more likely to volunteer at an organisation linked with schools (13% and 18% respectively) or promoting causes (12% and 14%) than non-capital city residents (both 7%) and those without dependent children (7% and 8%).
- Greens voters are most likely to volunteer for an organisation providing support services (27%).
Support for Government initiatives for volunteers
Q. People have suggested a number of things the government could do to encourage people to volunteer more. How strongly do you support or oppose each of the following?
| NET: Support | NET: Oppose | Strongly support | Somewhat support | Neither support nor oppose | Somewhat oppose | Strongly oppose | |
| Allow volunteers to claim travel and other expenses from volunteering as tax deductions | 69% | 10% | 29% | 40% | 21% | 6% | 4% |
| The government reimburses volunteers directly for any out of pocket expenses from volunteering | 60% | 14% | 25% | 35% | 25% | 9% | 5% |
| Give companies tax breaks when they allow their staff to take time off to do volunteer work | 58% | 11% | 20% | 38% | 31% | 7% | 4% |
- 69% of participants support allowing volunteers to claim travel and other expenses from volunteering as tax deductions, 60% support the government directly reimbursing volunteers for any out of pocket expenses from volunteering and 58% support giving companies tax breaks when they allow their staff to take time off to do volunteer work.
- Greens voters are most likely to support giving companies tax breaks when they allow their staff to take time off to do volunteer work (70%) whereas, independent/other party voters are least likely to support that suggestion (47%).
Involvement in election campaign
Q. Over the last few weeks, which of the following types of involvement have you had in the Federal election campaign?
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Met one of my local candidates |
8% |
10% |
8% |
5% |
|
| Received election leaflets in my letterbox |
55% |
57% |
56% |
66% |
|
| Been door-knocked by a political party |
4% |
5% |
4% |
3% |
|
| Been handed election materials in the street |
7% |
9% |
7% |
6% |
|
| Had a phone call from a political party |
5% |
5% |
6% |
7% |
|
| Been surveyed by phone or door-to-door (not online surveys) |
4% |
6% |
4% |
1% |
|
| Seen TV advertising or heard radio advertising from political parties |
57% |
60% |
58% |
66% |
|
| Watched interviews with politicians on TV or heard them on radio |
44% |
43% |
46% |
56% |
|
| Read articles about the election in newspapers or magazines |
38% |
35% |
39% |
53% |
|
| Been to a political meeting or event |
2% |
2% |
2% |
– |
|
| Seen election advertising on Youtube or Facebook |
8% |
11% |
6% |
12% |
|
| Joined a Facebook group related to the election |
4% |
5% |
2% |
5% |
|
| Done volunteer work for a candidate (e.g. letterboxing) |
1% |
1% |
1% |
1% |
|
| None of these |
26% |
22% |
27% |
17% |
57% say they have seen TV or heard radio advertising from political parties, 55% have received election leaflets in their letterbox, 44% have watched or heard interviews with politicians on TV or radio and 38% have read articles about the election.
Greens voters were more likely to watch or listen to interviews with politicians (56%) and read articles (53%).
Older respondents tended to be more engaged with the election – of those aged 55+, 59% had watched or listened to interviews with politicians and 51% had read articles about the election.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Download this week's ReportEssential Report
Two Party Preferred: 14 May 2019
In this week's report:
Essential Tags
Recent Comments
