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Same-sex marriage

8 Aug 2017

Q. Recently, a number of suggestions have been made for making a decision about same sex marriage. Do you approve or disapprove of each of the following suggestions?

  Total approve Total dis-approve   Strongly approve Approve Dis-approve Strongly dis-approve Don’t know
Hold a voluntary postal plebiscite followed by a vote in Parliament. 43% 38%   15% 28% 18% 20% 19%
Hold a vote in Parliament and try to persuade Liberal Party members to cross the floor and vote against their party policy 43% 31%   20% 23% 16% 15% 25%
Hold a plebiscite in conjunction with the next election 46% 34%   17% 29% 18% 16% 20%
Wait until after the next election before trying to reach a decision 22% 55%   6% 16% 24% 31% 23%

 

  Total approve   Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Vote other
Hold a voluntary postal plebiscite followed by a vote in Parliament. 43%   45% 53% 40% 35%
Hold a vote in Parliament and try to persuade Liberal Party members to cross the floor and vote against their party policy 43%   59% 37% 54% 26%
Hold a plebiscite in conjunction with the next election 46%   44% 57% 33% 52%
Wait until after the next election before trying to reach a decision 22%   23% 27% 9% 19%


Three options for addressing the issue of same sex marriage received moderate support. 46% approved holding a plebiscite with the next election, 43% approved holding a vote in Parliament and 43% supported a postal plebiscite (although 38% disapproved of this option).

A majority (55%) disapproved of waiting until after the next election before trying to reach a decision.

A majority of Labor (59%) and Greens (54%) voters approved of holding a vote in Parliament while Liberal/National voters were more likely to approve holding a plebiscite with the next election (57%) and holding a voluntary postal plebiscite (53%).

Waiting until after the next election was disapproved by 61% of Labor voters, 48% of Liberal/National voters and 70% of Greens voters.

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