I’ve compiled a list of statistics on a range of important issues, using the results of the ABC’s 2013 Vote Compass questionnaire that had 1.2 million responses. It’s not a random sample and isn’t entirely representative of the Australian population, but it gives you an idea on where Australia is headed in terms of values and beliefs.
Spoiler: Equality is going to happen whether our All Mighty Leader wants it or not.
Marriage Equality
- Overall, 52% of people support same sex marriage, 36% do not.
- Around 69% of 18-34 year olds support marriage equality, as opposed to only 34% of people over 55 years old. People aged between 34 and 55 generally support it.
- Just under half of the men support marriage equality, along with 60% of women.
- Over 85% of Greens voters support marriage equality.
- 78% of “Left” voters and 27% of “Right” voters support same sex marriage.
- Surprisingly, 50% of “Catholic” voters support marriage equality.
- 76% of non-religious people support marriage equality.
Euthanasia
- Overall, 75% of voters support a terminally ill patient’s right to legally end their own life with medical assistance.
- Non-religious people tend to support euthanasia (92%), as well as 70% of Catholics.
Abortion
- The overall impression is that the majority of people believe abortions should be accessible in Australia.
- Most Greens voters seem to support abortion availability.
- Slightly more women than men seem to be pro-choice.
- A large percentage (about 40%) seem to be neutral, undecided, or at least believe abortions are available enough currently.
- Younger people seem to be more certain on this matter than others, while the older generations (55+) are the most uncertain about their stance on abortions.
- Single people are more pro-choice than married people.
- The non-religious are the most liberal regarding abortions; Catholics and Protestants are the most traditional and are generally against or neutral about abortion availability.
Climate Change
- 61% of people seem to believe the federal government should do more to prevent climate change.
- 69% of Liberal supporters want to keep or improve climate change efforts, compared to 76% of Labour supporters and 90% of Greens.
- Women seem to want to do more to prevent climate change than men.
- Younger generations seem to be more aware of the climate change threat.
- Income doesn’t appear to be a factor in opinions, except for a slight change in certainty for lower income earners, who appear to be slightly more sure certain of the global warming problem.
- Queenslanders seem to want to do the least about global warming, while ACT and Victorian residents want to do the most.
Carbon Tax
- Generally, the majority of people believe there should be a price on carbon emissions.
- 82% of Greens voters want to have a carbon tax, compared to 71% of Labor voters and 24% of Coalition voters.
- Women and younger people are slightly happier to pay taxes on carbon.
- Metro-dwellers are more willing to pay a carbon tax than people in rural areas.
Important Issues
- Green voters care less about the economy (5% of their electoral opinion) than Labour (17%) and Liberal (49%) voters.
- Labour voters care more (13%) about Broadband/NBN than Liberals (1%).
- Green voters care more about climate change (25%) than Labour (11%) and other parties (~4%).
- People without a university education rate the economy as a slightly more important issue than those who have a university education.
- Women care more about asylum seekers, hospitals, climate change and education than men.
- Men are more concerned with the economy and broadband/NBN.
- Young voters care less about the economy, but more about education and broadband issues.
- Low income earners care less about the economy than high income earners.
- Northern Territory residents seem to care less about the economy than other states
- People who aren’t very political seem to care more about education, broadband, taxes and childcare, while people who are more political seem to care more about the economy and asylum seekers.
What it means
What surprised me was the lack of traditional religious values coming from people who claimed to have been religious, but this could just be attributed to people who claim to be religious due to family or social conditions but don’t practice or believe in any of their religion’s values. It could also be an issue of picking and choosing what to believe and not believe when it comes to these values.
Younger voters seem to be more concerned about larger issues such as the environment, global warming, and marriage equality, while the older voters are more concerned about more short term issues that most likely affect their own lives, namely the economy and healthcare.
Reliability of Statistics
There are some interesting statistics there, as well as some more obvious ones, but as mentioned earlier, it’s important to remember that although the sample size was large, it wasn’t a random sample and therefore only represents the views of those who took part in the survey. These people would have probably included ABC fans, voters who had doubts about their voting decision and more of the younger generation as it was an online-only survey. That being said, the statistics still display some clear trends regarding a voter’s age, religion and their political views.
Sources:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/federal-election-2013/news-and-analysis/vote-compass-results/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-09/vote-compass-data-results-important-issues/4872896
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-26/vote-compass-climate-change-environment/4908224
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-29/vote-compass-gay-marriage-euthanasia-abortion/4918494