14 January 2013, 140113, Federal House of Representatives, first past the post, optional preferential, preferential, voting system
Q. Which of the following voting systems would you prefer when voting for the Federal House of Representatives.
|
11 Jul 11 |
Total 14 Jan 13 |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Preferential |
22% |
23% |
29% |
20% |
32% |
| Optional preferential |
26% |
25% |
26% |
23% |
43% |
| First past the post |
44% |
44% |
40% |
52% |
24% |
| Don’t know |
7% |
8% |
5% |
5% |
1% |
Of the three voting options given, 44% favoured “first past the post”, 25% optional preferential and 23% the current preferential system – almost no change since the question was last asked in July 2011.
Optional preferential was most preferred by those aged under 35 (30%) while older groups strongly favoured first past the post (52% of aged 45+).
“First past the post” was preferred by 52% Liberal/National voters and 43% of Greens voters preferred optional preferential.
Election, Essential Report, federal politics, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls, voting, voting system
Q. If voting at elections was voluntary (i.e. not compulsory) – how likely would you be to vote in the next Federal election?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total definitely/probably vote | 82% | 85% | 89% | 78% |
| Total definitely/probably not vote | 14% | 12% | 9% | 19% |
| Would definitely vote | 59% | 62% | 65% | 61% |
| Would probably vote | 23% | 23% | 24% | 17% |
| Probably wouldn’t vote | 10% | 8% | 7% | 18% |
| Definitely wouldn’t vote | 4% | 4% | 2% | 1% |
| Don’t know | 4% | 3% | 1% | 3% |
82% said they would definitely or probably vote if voting was voluntary. 14% said they definitely or probably would not vote.
Coalition and Labor voters were more likely to vote and Greens voters somewhat less likely.
By age, 73% of those aged under 35 said they would vote compared to 82% of those aged 35-54 and 91% of those aged 55+.
The estimated vote excluding those who would probably or definitely not vote produces a first preference vote of 52% Liberal/National, 30% Labor, 11% Greens and 7% other. The two-party preferred estimate is 58% Liberal/National and 42% Labor (compared to the current estimate of 57%/43%) – suggesting that voluntary voting would only very slightly advantage the Coalition.
Essential Report, Greens, house of representatives, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls, voting, voting system
Q. Which of the following voting systems would you prefer when voting for the Federal House of Representatives.
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Preferential | 22% | 31% | 18% | 30% |
| Optional preferential | 26% | 26% | 24% | 33% |
| First past the post | 44% | 40% | 53% | 31% |
| Don’t know | 7% | 4% | 4% | 6% |
Of the three voting options given, 44% favoured “first past the post”, 26% optional preferential and 22% the current preferential system.
Optional preferential was most preferred by those aged under 35 (35%) while older groups strongly favoured first past the post (50% of aged 35-54 and 54% of aged 55+).