Australians underwhelmed by the Federal Budget – Ipsos poll
Announcement posted by Third Avenue Consulting 15 Oct 2020
Sydney, Australia, October 15, 2020 — The Australian public are underwhelmed by the recent Federal Budget, according to an Ipsos poll.
A quarter of those surveyed (27%) believe they’ll feel better off as a result of the measures introduced by the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg’s Budget, on 6th October, however, three in five of us believe we will either be worse off (21%) or that it will make no difference to our personal situation (38%).
Those on lower or middle incomes were less likely to think they will be better off following the Budget (16% and 30% respectively), compared to Australians earning over $100,000 (42% personally better off).
Looking back at previous budgets, the 2020 Budget was better received than others. The Abbott/Hockey budget in 2014 was the most unpopular budget of recent times, whereas the last Howard/Costello budget in 2006 was the best received.
| Thinking now about how the budget will affect you personally, do you feel you will be better off or worse off
| |||||||||
| BUDGET %
| May 2006
Howard | May 2008
Rudd | May 2009
Rudd | May 2012
Gillard | May 2013
Gillard | May 2014
Abbott Hockey | May 2015
Abbott | May 2016
Turnbull | Oct
Morrison
|
| Better off | 43% | 31% | 23% | 27% | 15% | 8% | 28% | 24% | 27% |
| Worse off | 24% | 30% | 38% | 43% | 52% | 74% | 33% | 39% | 21% |
| No difference | 25% | 32% | 34% | 22% | 27% | 16% | 32% | 24% | 38% |
| Don’t know | 8% | 7% | 5% | 8% | 6% | 2% | 7% | 13% | 14% |
Australians are even more lukewarm when they consider the impact of the Budget on the country as a whole. Only 38% think the Treasurer’s Budget will be good for the country – the lowest rating for a Budget since Ipsos has tracked this measure. That said, only a few of us (22%) think the budget will be bad for Australia – and 30% think it will make no difference, or we simply do not know.
| From what you have seen and heard about this year’s Federal Budget … do you think it will be good or bad for Australia? | |||||||||
| BUDGET %
| May 1999
Howard Costello | May 2001
Howard Costello | May 2004
Howard | May 2006
Howard | May 2012
Gillard | May 2013
Gillard | May 2014
Abbott Hockey | May 2015
Abbott | Oct
Morrison
|
| Good for Australia
| 46% | 44% | 46% | 52% | 41% | 44% | 42% | 54% | 38% |
| Bad for Australia
| 26% | 24% | 29% | 25% | 41% | 42% | 53% | 29% | 22% |
| No difference
| 9% | 16% | 12% | 10% | 6% | 5% | 2% | 6% | 21% |
| Don’t know
| 20% | 16% | 13% | 13% | 13% | 9% | 4% | 11% | 19 |
Six in 10 Australians think the Budget has been fair to all parts of the country, with a majority in all states and territories agreeing.
When presented with a range of different policy areas, Australians believe the top priorities should be:
· support for the unemployed (23%)
· support for hard hit industries (do we stick in an e.g. tourism, arts and entertainment, hospitality, etc.) (15%)
· support for small business (13%)
· support for social impact issues such as mental health and domestic violence (13%)
· support for aged care (11%)
· support for the environment (10%)
· support for retirees (9%)
· support for young people (5%)
· support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities (2%)
Labor voters have one stand out priority for the Federal Budget – that it should provide support for unemployed people (29%). In contrast, Coalition voters see support for hard hit industries (20%), small business (18%) and support for the unemployed (18%) as similarly important. Greens voters think the Budget priorities should have been the environment (27%) and support for the unemployed (20%).
Among older Australians aged over 50, 16% prioritise support for aged care and support for retirees; this drops to 8% and 3% respectively for these issues among the younger population. Conversely 12% of those under 30 think support for young people should be the top priority – but only 3% of Australians aged over 30 agree with them.
Ipsos Australia Public Affairs Director, Jess Elgood, said: “The Australian public saw this as an unremarkable Federal Budget by the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg. He didn’t make a lot of friends – but nor did he alienate too many people. As Australians, we are more likely to think the measures he’s introduced will benefit the country than benefit each of us personally. Our policy priorities suggest there’s still significant worry about both the economy and employment prospects, and there’s an appetite to see the Government take a strong lead in these areas.”
Notes to editors
Technical details
These are the findings of an online survey of a representative sample of 1,025 adult Australians, aged 18+, between 7th – 12th October 2020. ±3.1% is the maximum margin of sampling error that might apply to this sample. The data are weighted to reflect the population distribution.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Jess Elgood Rochelle Burbury
Ipsos Third Avenue Consulting
0431 656 217 0408 774 577
Jessica.elgood@ipsos.com rochelle@thirdavenuecom.au
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