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  • Nov, 2012

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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 = 1,863 respondents

    First preference/leaning to

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    8/10/12

    2 weeks ago

    22/10/12

    Last week

    29/10/12

    This week

    7/11/12

    Liberal

    44%

    44%

    44%

    43%

    National

    3%

    3%

    4%

    3%

    Total Lib/Nat

    43.6%

    47%

    47%

    48%

    46%

    Labor

    38.0%

    37%

    36%

    36%

    37%

    Greens

    11.8%

    9%

    9%

    9%

    9%

    Other/Independent

    6.6%

    7%

    7%

    7%

    8%

     

    2PP

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    2 weeks ago

    Last week

    This week

    Total Lib/Nat

    49.9%

    53%

    53%

    54%

    53%

    Labor

    50.1%

    47%

    47%

    46%

    47%

    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 2010 election. These estimates have a confidence interval of approx. plus or minus 2-3%.

  • Nov, 2012

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    Approval of Christine Milne

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Christine Milne is doing as leader of the Greens?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total approve

    20%

    28%

    10%

    71%

    Total disapprove

    33%

    24%

    49%

    5%

    Strongly approve

    2%

    3%

    1%

    8%

    Approve

    18%

    25%

    9%

    63%

    Disapprove

    18%

    18%

    22%

    5%

    Strongly disapprove

    15%

    6%

    27%

    Don’t know

    47%

    48%

    42%

    24%

    20% approve of the job Christine Milne is doing as leader of the Greens and 33% disapprove – nearly half could not give an opinion.

    Among Greens voters 71% approve and 5% disapprove. 27% of respondents aged under 35 approve compared to 17% of those aged 55+.

  • Nov, 2012

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    Performance of the Greens

    Q. Do you think the performance of the Greens in Federal Parliament has been good or poor?

     

    16 Jul 12

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total good

    17%

    16%

    22%

    6%

    65%

    Total poor

    47%

    40%

    27%

    61%

    5%

    Very good

    3%

    3%

    3%

    *

    20%

    Good

    14%

    13%

    19%

    6%

    45%

    Neither good nor poor

    27%

    25%

    32%

    20%

    23%

    Poor

    19%

    18%

    17%

    24%

    5%

    Very poor

    28%

    22%

    10%

    37%

    Don’t know

    10%

    19%

    20%

    12%

    6%

    16% think the performance of The Greens in Federal Parliament has been good or very good and 40% think it has been poor or very poor. This is a drop of 7% in the percentage thinking the Greens have been poor since July when this question was last asked. Those who don’t know have increased from 10% to 19%.

    Labor voters tend to think The Greens’ performance has been poor/very poor  (27%) or neither good nor poor (32%) – and only 22% think it has been good/very good. 61% of Liberal/National voters think it has been poor/very poor and 65% of Greens voters think it has been good/very good.

    Among respondents aged under 35, 24% think The Greens’ performance has been good/very good and 24% think it has been poor/very poor.

  • Nov, 2012

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    Greens policies

    Q. Do you think that The Greens’ policies are too extreme or do they represent the views of many voters?

     

    16 Jul 12

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Too extreme

    53%

    47%

    38%

    69%

    7%

    Represent the views of many voters

    26%

    25%

    33%

    12%

    81%

    Don’t know

    21%

    28%

    29%

    20%

    12%

    47% think The Greens’ policies are too extreme and 25% think they represent the views of many voters. Since this question was last asked in July, the percentage thinking they are extreme has dropped 6% while “don’t know” has increased from 21% to 28%.

    Those most likely to think The Greens’ policies are too extreme were men (55%), aged 55+ (66%) and Liberal/National voters (69%).

    30% of respondents aged under 35 think they represent the views of many voters and 33% think they are too extreme.

  • Nov, 2012

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    The Asian Century

    Q. The Government recently released a report about the Asian Century and the opportunities for Australia as part of the region. Do you agree or disagree that Australia’s economic future depends on our engagement and relationships with Asian countries?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total agree

    65%

    73%

    66%

    74%

    Total disagree

    16%

    12%

    20%

    16%

    Strongly agree

    16%

    25%

    11%

    24%

    Agree

    49%

    48%

    55%

    50%

    Disagree

    10%

    9%

    12%

    11%

    Strongly disagree

    6%

    3%

    8%

    5%

    Don’t know

    18%

    15%

    14%

    10%

    65% agree that Australia’s economic future depends on our engagement and relationships with Asian countries and 16% disagree.  At least two thirds of each voter group agreed.

    There was similar agreement across all age groups. Highest disagreement was shown by those aged 55+ (22%) and Liberal/National voters (20%).

  • Nov, 2012

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    Increasing connections with Asian countries

    Q. Do you agree or disagree that increasing our diplomatic and business connections with Asian countries should be a major priority for Australia?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total agree

    62%

    72%

    60%

    67%

    Total disagree

    22%

    15%

    29%

    19%

    Strongly agree

    13%

    20%

    8%

    22%

    Agree

    49%

    52%

    52%

    45%

    Disagree

    16%

    12%

    21%

    12%

    Strongly disagree

    6%

    3%

    8%

    7%

    Don’t know

    16%

    14%

    11%

    14%

    62% agree that Australia’s increasing our diplomatic and business connections with Asian countries should be a major priority for Australia and 22% disagree.

    There was similar agreement across all age groups. Highest disagreement was shown by those aged 55+ (27%) and Liberal/National voters (29%).

  • Nov, 2012

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    Learning Asian languages

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of making it a priority for Australian students to learn Asian languages?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total approve

    50%

    57%

    46%

    64%

    Total disapprove

    38%

    29%

    46%

    26%

    Strongly approve

    9%

    14%

    5%

    18%

    Approve

    41%

    43%

    41%

    46%

    Disapprove

    22%

    18%

    25%

    10%

    Strongly disapprove

    16%

    11%

    21%

    16%

    Don’t know

    13%

    15%

    8%

    10%

    50% approve of making it a priority for Australian students to learn Asian languages and 38% disapprove. A majority of Labor voters and Greens voters approve but Liberal/National voters are split with 46% approve and 46% disapprove.

    There were no major differences across age groups. 57% of full-time workers approve and 33% dispapprove.

  • Nov, 2012

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    Uranium exploration and mining

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of expanding uranium exploration and mining in Australia?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total approve

    41%

    36%

    54%

    27%

    Total disapprove

    41%

    47%

    28%

    64%

    Strongly approve

    8%

    7%

    11%

    9%

    Approve

    33%

    29%

    43%

    18%

    Disapprove

    23%

    30%

    15%

    26%

    Strongly disapprove

    18%

    17%

    13%

    38%

    Don’t know

    19%

    17%

    18%

    9%

    Respondents were evenly divided over expanding uranium exploration and mining in Australia – 41% approve and 41% disapprove.

    Labor voters and Greens voters were more likely to disapprove while more than half (54%) Liberal/National voters approve.

    Men split 56% approve/30% disapprove compared to women 24% approve/50% disapprove.

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