Australia’s health system, Essential Report, Greens, Health, healthcare system, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls
Q. Overall, which party do you think would be best at handling Australia’s health system?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| The Labor Party | 26% | 69% | 3% | 39% |
| The Liberal Party | 33% | 2% | 71% | 3% |
| No difference | 27% | 18% | 18% | 39% |
| Don’t know | 14% | 10% | 8% | 19% |
Opinions of party best to handle Australia’s health system very much follow voting preferences. Overall the Liberal Party is favoured over labor by 33% to 26%. 41% either don’t know or think there is no difference. 69% of Labor voters favour the Labor Party and 71% of Liberal/National voters favor the Liberals.
Men favour the Liberals 40% to 27% while women are more evenly divided – 25% Labor, 26% Liberal and 49% no difference/don’t know.
Those on incomes under $600pw favour Labor over the Liberals by 34% to 22% – all other income groups favour the Liberal Party.
Essential Report, Facebook, Polling, polls, Social Media, Twitter
Q. The British Prime Minister has suggested that in situations such as the recent riots, people should be banned from using social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Do you agree or disagree.
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Aged 18-34 | Aged 35-54 | Aged 55+ | Use frequently | Use sometimes | Use occasionally | Never use | |
| Total agree | 47% | 51% | 51% | 22% | 29% | 52% | 62% | 27% | 55% | 52% | 64% |
| Total disagree | 39% | 38% | 36% | 65% | 59% | 31% | 29% | 62% | 31% | 31% | 25% |
| Strongly agree | 24% | 25% | 26% | 5% | 10% | 28% | 35% | 14% | 16% | 24% | 40% |
| Agree | 23% | 26% | 25% | 17% | 19% | 24% | 27% | 13% | 39% | 28% | 24% |
| Disagree | 24% | 25% | 21% | 34% | 30% | 24% | 20% | 35% | 20% | 21% | 17% |
| Strongly disagree | 15% | 13% | 15% | 31% | 29% | 9% | 9% | 27% | 11% | 10% | 8% |
| Don’t know | 13% | 11% | 13% | 13% | 13% | 16% | 9% | 10% | 13% | 16% | 11% |
47% agreed with the suggestion to ban people from using social media in particular situations such as the recent UK riots and 39% disagreed.
Those most likely to disagree were Greens voters (65%) and people aged 18-34 (59%).
Responses were strongly associated with usage. 62% of those who use social media frequently disagreed compared to 31% of those who use sometimes/occasionally and 25% of those who never use.
Essential Report, Facebook, Polling, polls, Social Media, Twitter
Q. How often do you personally use social media such as Twitter and Facebook?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Aged 18-34 | Aged 35-54 | Aged 55+ | |
| Frequently | 34% | 34% | 30% | 48% | 58% | 27% | 18% |
| Sometimes | 17% | 19% | 16% | 22% | 19% | 19% | 11% |
| Occasionally | 18% | 12% | 21% | 14% | 10% | 21% | 22% |
| Never | 30% | 33% | 32% | 15% | 10% | 32% | 49% |
| Don’t know | 1% | 2% | * | 1% | 3% | 1% | – |
34% said they used social media frequently, 17% sometimes and 18% occasionally. 30% said they never used social media.
By age, 58% of 18-34’s said they used it frequently compared to only 18% of over 55’s. 41% of women used it frequently compared to 28% of men. Those on higher incomes were also more likely to use social media frequently – 37% of those earning $1,000+pw compared to 27% of those earning under $1,000pw.
Australian economy, Essential Report, financial situation, GFC, global financial crisis
Q. How concerned are you about the impact of current movements in the share market on your financial situation?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Income les than $600pw | Income $600-$1,000pw | Income $1,000-$1,600pw | Income over $1,600pw | |
| Very concerned | 16% | 13% | 21% | 6% | 12% | 17% | 16% | 16% |
| Somewhat concerned | 23% | 22% | 25% | 12% | 16% | 28% | 25% | 23% |
| A little concerned | 29% | 30% | 30% | 28% | 29% | 26% | 30% | 28% |
| Not at all concerned | 26% | 28% | 20% | 47% | 33% | 24% | 23% | 28% |
| Don’t know | 7% | 7% | 4% | 7% | 9% | 5% | 6% | 6% |
16% said they were very concerned and 23% somewhat concerned about the impact of current movements in the share market on your financial situation. 55% were only a little or not at all concerned.
Apart from those on very low incomes, there was not much difference across income groups – 28% of those earning under $600pw were very/somewhat concerned compared to 45% of those earning $600-1,000, 41% of those earning $1,000-1,600 and 39% of those on $1,600+.
Older respondents tended to be more concerned – 49% of those aged 55+ were very/somewhat concerned compared to 32% of 18-34’s and 38% of 35-54’s.
2PP, Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls, two party preferred, voting, 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 = 2,023
| First preference/leaning to | Election
21 Aug 10 |
4 weeks ago | 2 weeks ago | Last week | This week |
| Liberal | 46% | 46% | 47% | 46% | |
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 4% | |
| Total Lib/Nat | 43.6 | 49% | 49% | 50% | 50% |
| Labor | 38.0 | 31% | 31% | 30% | 31% |
| Greens | 11.8 | 11% | 11% | 10% | 10% |
| 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% | 56% | 56% | 57% | 57% |
| Labor | 50.1% | 44% | 44% | 43% | 43% |
NB. The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived 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.
approval of PM, Essential Report, federal politics, Julia Gillard, Julia Gillard approval, Labor, Liberal, Polling, polls
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister?
| 19 Jul | 20 Sep | 20 Dec | 17 Jan 2011 | 14 Feb | 14 Mar | 11 Apr | 9 May | 14 June | 11 July | 15 Aug | |
| Total approve | 52% | 45% | 43% | 51% | 48% | 41% | 37% | 41% | 34% | 29% | 35% |
| Total disapprove | 30% | 37% | 40% | 36% | 41% | 46% | 50% | 48% | 54% | 62% | 55% |
| Strongly approve | 11% | 12% | 10% | 8% | 9% | 7% | 7% | 7% | 6% | 5% | 6% |
| Approve | 41% | 33% | 33% | 43% | 39% | 34% | 30% | 34% | 28% | 24% | 29% |
| Disapprove | 17% | 21% | 24% | 24% | 25% | 22% | 25% | 26% | 29% | 30% | 24% |
| Strongly disapprove | 13% | 16% | 16% | 12% | 16% | 24% | 25% | 22% | 25% | 32% | 31% |
| Don’t know | 18% | 19% | 17% | 14% | 11% | 13% | 13% | 11% | 13% | 9% | 11% |
35% (up 6%) approve of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister and 55% (down 7%) disapprove – a change in net rating from -33 to -20 over the last 4 weeks.
77% of Labor voters approve (up 5%) and 13% disapprove (down 7%).
By gender – men 35% approve/57% disapprove, women 34% approve/52% disapprove.
Abbott, Approval of opposition leader, Essential Report, federal politics, Polling, polls, tony abbott, Tony Abbott approval
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?
| 18 Jan
2010 |
29 Mar | 5 Jul | 20 Sep | 20 Dec | 17 Jan 2011 | 14 Feb | 14 Mar | 11 Apr | 9 May | 14 June | 11 July | 15 Aug | |
| Total approve | 37% | 33% | 37% | 43% | 39% | 42% | 38% | 38% | 36% | 42% | 38% | 39% | 37% |
| Total disapprove | 37% | 50% | 47% | 37% | 39% | 37% | 46% | 47% | 48% | 44% | 48% | 49% | 50% |
| Strongly approve | 5% | 8% | 8% | 12% | 9% | 7% | 8% | 7% | 7% | 8% | 6% | 6% | 8% |
| Approve | 32% | 25% | 29% | 31% | 30% | 35% | 30% | 31% | 29% | 34% | 32% | 33% | 29% |
| Disapprove | 20% | 28% | 23% | 21% | 21% | 22% | 24% | 24% | 25% | 25% | 25% | 24% | 25% |
| Strongly disapprove | 17% | 22% | 24% | 16% | 18% | 15% | 22% | 23% | 23% | 19% | 23% | 25% | 25% |
| Don’t know | 26% | 16% | 16% | 19% | 22% | 20% | 16% | 16% | 17% | 14% | 15% | 11% | 13% |
37% (down 2%) approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader and 50% (up 1%) disapprove – a change in net rating from -10 to -13 over the last 4 weeks. This is Tony Abbott’s worst approval rating this year.
72% of Coalition voters approve and 20% disapprove.
By gender – men 40% approve/49% disapprove, women 33% approve/51% disapprove.
Essential Report, Julia Gillard, Labor, Liberal, Polling, polls, preferred PM, tony abbott
Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott?
| 5 Jul 2010 | 17 Jan 2011 | 14 Feb | 14 Mar | 11 Apr | 9 May | 14 June | 11 July | 15 Aug | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Julia Gillard | 53% | 47% | 48% | 44% | 42% | 43% | 41% | 37% | 38% | 82% | 7% | 73% |
| Tony Abbott | 26% | 32% | 31% | 33% | 33% | 35% | 36% | 39% | 36% | 1% | 73% | 7% |
| Don’t know | 21% | 21% | 20% | 23% | 24% | 22% | 24% | 24% | 26% | 17% | 20% | 20% |
38% believe Julia Gillard would make the better Prime Minister and 36% prefer Tony Abbott – a net improvement for Julia Gillard of 4% on last month’s figures (from -2% to +2%).
Men prefer Tony Abbott 41%/35% and women favour Julia Gillard 40%/32%.