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  • Mar, 2012

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    Federal politics – voting intention

    Q. If a Federal Election was held today to which party will you probably give your first preference vote? If not sure, which party are you currently leaning toward?

    Q. If don’t know -Well which party are you currently leaning to?

    Sample size = 1,918 respondents

    First preference/leaning to

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    2 weeks ago

    Last week

     

    This week

    Liberal

    45%

    47%

    46%

    45%

    National

    3%

    3%

    3%

    3%

    Total Lib/Nat

    43.6%

    48%

    49%

    49%

    48%

    Labor

    38.0%

    33%

    32%

    31%

    32%

    Greens

    11.8%

    11%

    10%

    10%

    11%

    Other/Independent

    6.6%

    9%

    9%

    10%

    9%

     

    2PP

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    2 weeks ago

    Last week

    This week

    Total Lib/Nat

    49.9%

    55%

    56%

    57%

    56%

    Labor

    50.1%

    45%

    44%

    43%

    44%

     

    NB.  The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived from the first preference/leaning to voting questions.  Respondents who select ‘don’t know’ are not included in the results.  The two-party preferred estimate is calculated by distributing the votes of the other parties according to their preferences at the 2010 election.

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  • Mar, 2012

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    Troops in Afghanistan

    Q.  Thinking about the Australian troops in Afghanistan, do you think Australia should –

     

    25 Oct 2010

    21 Mar 2011

    29 Aug

    21 Nov

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Increase the number of troops in Afghanistan

    10%

    5%

    4%

    3%

    4%

    4%

    4%

    6%

    Keep the same number of troops in Afghanistan

    30%

    30%

    26%

    22%

    22%

    21%

    27%

    18%

    Withdraw our troops from Afghanistan

    47%

    56%

    64%

    64%

    64%

    64%

    62%

    69%

    Don’t know

    14%

    9%

    7%

    11%

    10%

    11%

    7%

    6%

    64% (no change since November 2011) think Australia should withdraw our troops from Afghanistan, 22% (no change) think we should maintain troop numbers and 4% (up 1%) think we should increase them.

    In the past 12 months, support for withdrawal of Australian troops has increased from 56% to 64%. There was majority support for withdrawal by all voting groups – 62% of Lib/Nat voters, 64% Labor and 69% Greens. Support for withdrawal was 71% among people aged 55+ and women were more likely than men to support withdrawal of troops (69% to 59%).

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  • Mar, 2012

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    Women in Defence Forces

    Q. From what you’ve read and heard, do you think that women are generally respected and treated fairly in Australia’s defence forces or are they not respected or treated fairly?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Men

    Women

    Respected and treated fairly

    31%

    34%

    34%

    24%

    37%

    25%

    Not respected or treated fairly

    44%

    43%

    41%

    58%

    40%

    48%

    Don’t know

    25%

    23%

    25%

    18%

    23%

    27%

    44% think that women in Australia’s defence forces are not respected or treated fairly, 31% think they are respected and treated fairly and 25% don’t know.

    Only 25% of women think women in the defence forces are respected and treated fairly compared to 37% of men. 54% of respondents aged 55+ think they are not respected or treated fairly.

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  • Mar, 2012

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    Approval of Wikileaks

    Q. The online organisation Wikileaks, which is headed by the Australian Julian Assange, has released diplomatic material leaked to it by an American source.  It has also provided this material to other media which have also published information about the leaks. Do you approve or disapprove of Wikileaks and media outlets releasing this material?

     

    20 Dec 2010

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total approve

    53%

    53%

    55%

    51%

    80%

    Total disapprove

    25%

    26%

    30%

    30%

    5%

    Strongly approve

    20%

    20%

    21%

    18%

    32%

    Approve

    33%

    33%

    40%

    30%

    38%

    Disapprove

    14%

    18%

    16%

    21%

    13%

    Strongly disapprove

    11%

    8%

    6%

    10%

    5%

    Don’t know

    22%

    22%

    17%

    20%

    12%

    Approval of Wikileaks release of leaked information remains unchanged since this question was asked over 12 months ago. 53% approve of Wikileaks activities and 26% disapprove.

    80% of Greens voters approve compared to 55% of Labor voters and 51% of Liberal/National voters.

    60% of men approve and 22% disapprove while women split 45% approve/30% disapprove. Younger respondents (aged 18-34) are also more likely to approve – 61% approve and 16% disapprove.

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  • Mar, 2012

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    Support for Julian Assange

    Q. Julian Assange faces extradition from the UK to Sweden for an investigation into sexual assault allegations. In Sweden he will be detained while the investigation continues, and he may be extradited to the United States to face charges relating to WikiLeaks’s release of US diplomatic cables.

    Do you think the Australian government has provided appropriate support to Assange given he faces investigation for sexual assault in Sweden and possible extradition to the US?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    NSW

    Vic

    Qld

    Government have provided appropriate support

    22%

    26%

    26%

    14%

    21%

    23%

    21%

    Government have not provided appropriate support

    36%

    34%

    35%

    53%

    36%

    38%

    33%

    Don’t know

    41%

    40%

    39%

    33%

    43%

    39%

    46%

    36% believe that Julian Assange has received appropriate support from the Australian Government and 22% think he has received appropriate support. 41% could not give an opinion.

    47% of men think the Government has not provided appropriate support compared to 26% of women – mainly due the 53% of women who said they “don’t know”. Despite the their higher approval of Wikileaks, only 33% of respondents aged 18-34 think Julian Assange has not received appropriate support.

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  • Mar, 2012

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    Opinion of Unions

    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.

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  • Mar, 2012

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    Importance of Unions

    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).

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