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  • Jun, 2012

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    The Economy – Heading in the Right/Wrong Direction

    Q. Overall, from what you have read and heard, do you think the Australian economy is heading in the right direction or the wrong direction?

     

    17 May 10

    (Post 2010 budget)

    9 May 11

    (Post 2011 budget)

    4 Jul 11

    26 Mar 12

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Liberal/ National

    Vote Greens

    The right direction

    51%

    45%

    37%

    36%

    43%

    71%

    26%

    63%

    The wrong direction

    25%

    29%

    43%

    41%

    32%

    7%

    53%

    14%

    Don’t know

    24%

    25%

    20%

    22%

    25%

    23%

    20%

    23%

    43% of respondents think that Australia’s economy is heading in the right direction – 32% think it is heading in the wrong direction. Since this question was last asked in March, “right direction” has increased 7% and “wrong direction” declined 9%.

    71% (up 6%) of Labor voters, 26% (up 7%) of Liberal/National voters and 63% (up 16%) of Greens voters think the economy is heading in the right direction. There were no major differences across demographic groups except for the 18-34 years group where 47% thought the economy was heading in the right direction and 25% in the wrong direction.

  • Jun, 2012

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    TRENDS: Feeling the pain: fair go for Tories


    Labor takes pride in being there for those up against hard luck. Targeted financial assistance comes in many forms, whether co-investment to an auto industry being hammered by the two-speed economy, childcare rebates to hard-up families, or the straight cash injection into middle Australian wallets.

    It appears there is a new victim of the Australian economy in need of a rescue package: the Coalition voter.

    With interest rates, inflation and unemployment all under the 5 per cent threshold, Australia is bucking the global trend in maintaining stability in the face of global unrest. But our polling this week shows only around one third of Australians are prepared to say the economy is performing well.

    And while many are unimpressed with Australia’s performance, Coalition voters – and that’s a lot of people these days – are feeling the economic pain more intensely.

    Read more on this at the Drum

  • Jun, 2012

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    Economic Reforms

    Q. Thinking about the major economic reform in Australia since the 1980s like floating the dollar, removing tariffs and privatisation of Government services like Telstra and utilities, who do you think has benefited most – ordinary Australians through higher incomes and more growth and jobs, or corporations through higher profits and less regulation?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Ordinary Australians

    5%

    8%

    4%

    6%

    Corporations

    54%

    51%

    55%

    62%

    Both equally

    20%

    19%

    25%

    16%

    Don’t know

    21%

    22%

    17%

    16%

    54% thought that corporations have benefited most from Australia’s major economic reforms – only 5% think ordinary Australians have benefited most and 20% thought both had benefited equally.

    Those most likely to think corporations had benefited most were Greens voters (62%), aged 55+ (60%) and those on incomes under $600pw (61%).

  • May, 2012

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    State of the Economy

    Q. Overall, how would you describe the current state of the Australian economy?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total good

    35%

    56%

    24%

    54%

    Total poor

    29%

    13%

    42%

    18%

    Very good

    6%

    13%

    2%

    17%

    Good

    29%

    43%

    22%

    37%

    Neither good nor poor

    33%

    30%

    33%

    28%

    Poor

    20%

    9%

    29%

    14%

    Very poor

    9%

    4%

    13%

    4%

    Don’t know

    2%

    2%

    *

    1%

    35% described the economy as good or very good and 29% poor/very poor – 33% said it was neither.

    Those most likely to think the economy was good/very good were aged 18-34 (41%) and people with incomes over $1,600pw (44%).

    Those most likely to think the economy was poor/very poor were aged 55+ (34%) and people with incomes of $600-$1,000pw (36%).

    Comments »

  • May, 2012

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    Agreement with Economic Figures

    Q. Some say that official figures show Australia’s economy is doing very well, especially compared to the rest of the world.  The interest rate, the unemployment rate and the inflation rate are all less than 5%. Do you agree or disagree that this shows the state of the economy is good?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total agree

    52%

    75%

    39%

    70%

    Total disagree

    37%

    17%

    54%

    23%

    Strongly agree

    9%

    20%

    3%

    16%

    Agree

    43%

    55%

    36%

    54%

    Disagree

    27%

    12%

    39%

    17%

    Strongly disagree

    10%

    5%

    15%

    6%

    Don’t know

    10%

    7%

    7%

    8

    When told that official figures show Australia’s economy is doing well, 52% agreed and 37% disagreed.

    Those most likely to disagree were Liberal/National voters (54%), aged 45+ (45%) and people with incomes of $600-$1,000pw (43%).

    Comments »

  • May, 2012

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    Reasons Government is Unpopular

    Q. Although Australia’s economy is doing very well, according to opinion polls the Government is very unpopular. What do you think is the main reason for this? *

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Voters don’t trust the Prime Minister

    28%

    21%

    35%

    44%

    The carbon tax will increase the cost of living

    17%

    17%

    19%

    8%

    The economy is doing well for other reasons, like China and the mining boom, not because of the government

    15%

    13%

    19%

    5%

    Voters are still angry about the treatment of Kevin Rudd.

    12%

    18%

    6%

    14%

    Voters aren’t benefiting from the strong economy.

    12%

    10%

    14%

    8%

    The government looks sleazy because of Craig Thomson and Peter Slipper.

    4%

    5%

    3%

    8%

    Some other reason

    8%

    12%

    3%

    11%

    Don’t know

    3%

    5%

    1%

    3

    * Based on those who agree the economy is good.

    Respondents who thought the economy was doing well, thought the main reasons for the Government’s unpopularity were that voters don’t trust the Prime Minister (28%), that the carbon tax will increase the cost of living (17%) and that the economy is doing well for other reasons, not because of the Government (15%).

    Both Liberal/National and Greens voters said trust in the Prime Minister was the key issue, while Labor voters were somewhat more likely to nominate anger over the treatment of Kevin Rudd.

  • May, 2012

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    Mining Boom

    Q. Has the mining boom been good or bad for –

     

    Total good

    Total bad

    Very good

    Good

    Neither good nor bad

    Bad

    Very bad

    Don’t know

    The economy generally

    75%

    7%

    30%

    45%

    12%

    5%

    2%

    6%

    Other Australian industries

    50%

    16%

    12%

    38%

    26%

    12%

    4%

    9%

    Jobs generally

    61%

    12%

    16%

    45%

    21%

    9%

    3%

    7%

    You personally

    21%

    10%

    6%

    15%

    60%

    7%

    3%

    9%

    A substantial majority think that the mining boom has been good for the economy generally (75%) and jobs generally (61%). 50% think that it has been good for other Australian industries.

    However, most (60%) think it has been neither good nor bad for themselves personally – 21% think it has been good and 10% bad.

    Those most likely to think the mining boom had been good for them personally were aged 25-34 (31%), full-time workers (26%) and those on incomes over $1,600pw (27%).

    Comments »

  • May, 2012

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    The Australian Economy

    Q. Thinking about the state of the world economy, how do you think the Australian economy has performed over the last few years compared to other countries?

     

    15 Aug 11

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total better

    70%

    66%

    80%

    60%

    73%

    Total worse

    10%

    15%

    8%

    19%

    10%

    A lot better

    31%

    29%

    49%

    19%

    38%

    A little better

    39%

    37%

    31%

    41%

    35%

    About the same

    16%

    16%

    12%

    20%

    17%

    A little worse

    7%

    9%

    6%

    10%

    8%

    A lot worse

    3%

    6%

    2%

    9%

    2%

    Don’t know

    3%

    3%

    1%

    1%

    1%

    66% think that Australia’s economy has performed better than other countries over the last few years, 16% say about the same and 15% think it has been worse. This represents a shift from net +60 to net +51 since this question was previous asked in August last year.

    There were no substantial differences across demographic groups although those on higher incomes are a little more likely to believe it has performed better – 71% of those on incomes over $1,600pw compared to 61% of those earning under $1,000pw.

    Comments »

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