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  • Jan, 2014

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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 = 1,933 respondents

    First preference/leaning to

    Election

    7 Sep 13

     

    Last week

    21/1/14

    This week

    28/1/14

    Liberal

     

    40%

    40%

    National

    3%

    3%

    Total Lib/Nat

    45.6%

    43%

    42%

    Labor

    33.4%

    37%

    36%

    Greens

    8.6%

    9%

    9%

    Palmer United Party

    5.5%

    4%

    4%

    Other/Independent

    6.9%

    7%

    9%

     

    2 Party Preferred

    Election

    7 Sep 13

     

    Last week

    21/1/14

    This week

    28/1/14

    Liberal National

    53.5%

    51%

    50%

    Labor

    46.5%

    49%

    50%

    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 2013 election.

  • Jan, 2014

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    Changes to mail delivery

    Q. Would you approve or disapprove of changing the mail delivery service from each weekday to 3 days a week?

     

     

    Total

     

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote other

    Total approve

    29%

    29%

    35%

    26%

    20%

    Total disapprove

    63%

    66%

    57%

    64%

    69%

    Strongly approve

    4%

    6%

    4%

    5%

    1%

    Approve

    25%

    23%

    31%

    21%

    19%

    Disapprove

    23%

    23%

    22%

    23%

    27%

    Strongly disapprove

    40%

    43%

    35%

    41%

    42%

    Don’t know

    8%

    5%

    7%

    11%

    11%

    29% approve of changing the mail delivery service to 3 days a week and 63% oppose.

    There were no voter or demographic groups where disapproval was less than 50%.

  • Jan, 2014

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    Opinion of privatisation

    Q. Generally, do you think that privatisation – that is, having public services owned or run by private companies – is a good or bad idea?

     

     

    Total

     

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote other

     

    March 13

    A good idea

    21%

    16%

    31%

    7%

    12%

    22%

    A bad idea

    59%

    69%

    48%

    74%

    65%

    58%

    Don’t know

    20%

    15%

    21%

    19%

    23%

    20%

    59% think that, generally, privatisation is a bad idea and 21% think it is generally a good idea.

    Those most likely to think it is a bad idea were – aged 45-64 (75%), Greens voters (74%), Labor voters (69%) and incomes under $600pw (68%).

    Strongest support for privatisation came from Liberal/National voters (31%), aged 18-34 (30%) and those with university education (29%).

    There has been no significant change on this issue since this question was asked in March last year.

  • Jan, 2014

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    Welfare payments

    Q. Overall, do you think the Federal Government spends too much, not enough or about the right amount on welfare payments – such as age pensions, disability support pensions, unemployment benefits, parenting payments?

     

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote other

    Too much

    24%

    12%

    36%

    18%

    25%

    Not enough

    41%

    56%

    27%

    47%

    40%

    About right

    27%

    27%

    29%

    29%

    27%

    Don’t know

    9%

    5%

    9%

    7%

    8%

    41% think the Government does not spend enough on welfare payments, 27% think spending is about right and 24% think it spends too much.

    Those most likely to think it spends too much were Liberal/National voters (36%), full-time workers (33%) and those on income over $1,600pw (34%).

    Those most likely to think it doesn’t spend enough were Labor voters (56%) and those on incomes under $600pw (64%).

  • Jan, 2014

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    Pension and benefit payments

    Q. Do you think the following pensions and benefits are too high, too low or about right?

    Too high

    Too low

    About right

    Don’t know

     

     

    Too high

    Too low

    About right

    Don’t know

    Age pension

    2%

    64%

    25%

    8%

    Age pension ($827 a fortnight for a single person)

    5%

    52%

    35%

    8%

    Disability support pension

    8%

    47%

    31%

    14%

    Disability support pension ($813 a fortnight)

    8%

    47%

    35%

    10%

    Unemployment benefit

    27%

    27%

    35%

    11%

    Unemployment benefit ($501 a fortnight for a single person without children)

    25%

    35%

    31%

    9%

    Parenting payment

    31%

    23%

    32%

    14%

    Parenting payment ($700 a fortnight for a single parent)

    26%

    34%

    29%

    10%

    Note: Half the sample was asked this question without specifying the payment amounts and half was asked with the payment amounts specified.

    For half the sample that were not told the specific payment amount, 64% thought the age pension was too low and 47% thought the disability support pension was too low. Opinions on unemployment benefits and parenting payments were split – on unemployment benefits the most common response was “about right” (35%) and about right (32%) or too high (31%) for parenting payments.

    The half that were told the payments amounts were less likely to think the age pension was too low (52%), had similar perceptions of the disability support pension and were more likely to think unemployment benefits (35%) and parenting payments (34%) were too low.

    For the age pension while 58% of those aged 65+ thought it was too low, 76% of those aged 45-64 thought it was too low.

  • Jan, 2014

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    Eligibility for pensions and benefit payments

    Q. Would you support or oppose making eligibility tougher for the following benefits and pensions?

     

     

    Total support

    Total
    oppose

     

    Strongly support

    Support

    Oppose

    Strongly oppose

    Don’t know

    Age pension

    17%

    75%

    5%

    12%

    40%

    35%

    8%

    Disability support pension

    37%

    55%

    11%

    26%

    33%

    22%

    9%

    Unemployment benefit

    65%

    28%

    31%

    34%

    19%

    9%

    7%

    Parenting payment

    55%

    34%

    24%

    31%

    24%

    10%

    11%

    A majority oppose making eligibility tougher for the age pension (75%) and the disability support pension (55%) but support making it tougher for unemployment benefits (65%) and parenting payments (55%).

    Strongest opposition to making eligibility tougher for the age pension came from those aged 45-64 (85%).

    Liberal/National voters were split over the disability support pension (45% support/47% oppose making it tougher).

    76% of Liberal/National voters supported making eligibility for unemployment benefits tougher compared to 55% of Labor voters.

    70% of those aged 55+ supported making eligibility for parenting payments tougher.

  • Jan, 2014

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    Alcohol-related violence

    Q. As far as you know, do you think alcohol-related violence in Australia has increased or decreased over the last few years or has it not changed much?

     

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote other

    Total increased

    78%

    81%

    81%

    58%

    75%

    Total decreased

    2%

    3%

    2%

    2%

    4%

    Increased a lot

    55%

    53%

    58%

    40%

    57%

    Increased a little

    23%

    28%

    23%

    18%

    18%

    Not changed much

    15%

    12%

    14%

    32%

    16%

    Decreased a little

    2%

    3%

    1%

    2%

    3%

    Decreased a lot

    *

    1%

    1%

    Don’t know

    5%

    3%

    3%

    8%

    5%

    78% think that alcohol-related violence in Australia has increased over the last few years – 55% think it has increased a lot.

    70% of those aged 55+ think it has increased a lot compared to 39% of those aged 18-34.

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