Q. Do you think the Federal Liberal/National Government is too tough or too soft on asylum seekers or is it taking the right approach?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Oct 2010 | Jul 2012 | Jan 2014 | Jul 2014 | Apr 2015 | Nov 2015 | Aug 2016 | |||
| Too tough | 23% | 37% | 9% | 54% | 13% | 7% | 12% | 22% | 27% | 22% | 25% | 21% | ||
| Too soft | 24% | 23% | 22% | 14% | 43% | 63% | 60% | 25% | 18% | 27% | 29% | 29% | ||
| Taking the right approach | 37% | 28% | 59% | 19% | 34% | 18% | 11% | 35% | 36% | 34% | 31% | 31% | ||
| Don’t know | 15% | 12% | 10% | 14% | 10% | 12% | 17% | 18% | 18% | 17% | 15% | 19% |
24% (down 5% since August) think the Government is too soft on asylum seekers, 23% (up 2%) think they are too tough and 37% (up 6%) think they are taking the right approach.
Those most likely to think they are taking the right approach were Liberal/National voters (59%) and aged 65+ (48%).
Those most likely to think they are too tough were Greens voters (54%), Labor voters (37%) and aged 18-24 (34%).