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Perceived Impact of Budget

17 May 2010

Q. Do you think the Federal Budget was good or bad for you and people like you, or will it have no impact?

Q. Do you think the Federal Budget was good or bad for Australian businesses, or will it have no impact?

Q. Do you think the Federal Budget was good or bad for the Australian economy overall, or will it have no impact?

  You and people like you Businesses The economy overall
Total good 22% 27% 36%
Total bad 26% 32% 28%
Very good 3% 3% 6%
Good 19% 24% 30%
Bad 18% 22% 18%
Very bad 8% 10% 10%
No impact 33% 9% 10%
Don’t know 20% 31% 26%

 Respondents were split over whether the budget was good or bad for them personally – 22% said it was good for them and people like them, 26% bad and 33% said it would have no impact. A similar question was asked after last year’s budget – producing very similar results with 26% good, 25% bad, 32% no impact and 17% don’t know.  32% of respondents aged 55+ thought the budget was bad for them and only 19% good. Fulltime workers were a little more positive about the impact on themselves – 28% good/25% bad.

 32% thought the budget was bad for business, 27% good and 9% said it would have no impact. 53% of Labor voters said it was good for business and 61% of Liberal/National voters said it was bad.

 There was a more positive view of the budget in terms of whether it was good or bad for the economy overall – 36% said it was good and 28% bad. Labor voters split 67% good/5% bad compared to Liberal/National voters at 14% good/57% bad.

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