Biggest issue affecting Australians at this year’s Federal Election revealed in YouGov Galaxy poll
Australia’s Baby Boomers, Millennials, mums and dads and every state and territory are united on one thing this election. HAVE YOUR SAY
Analysis
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Baby Boomers, Millennials, mums and dads and every state and territory are united on one thing this election — cost of living is their number one issue.
A YouGov Galaxy poll, conducted exclusively for News Corp, shows health will be the next biggest election battleground.
But surprisingly Baby Boomers will be more likely to care about climate change and the environment on election day than Millennials.
Young Aussies ranked health (43 per cent), jobs (41 per cent) and education (38 per cent) as their biggest issues behind cost of living, which topped the list for every demographic and region.
Baby Boomers’ biggest concerns were border security (42 per cent), law and order, economic management and national security (38 per cent), followed by climate change (36 per cent) and jobs (34 per cent).
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Religious protections, the number of women in politics and whether Australia becomes a republic were factors for only a tiny portion of the population.
Border protection and jobs tied for the third biggest election issues in general (35 per cent) — and ranked only slightly higher than climate change (34 per cent).
It’s good news for independents such as Tony Abbott’s key rival Zali Steggall or Kerryn Phelps, who are seeking to win traditional Liberal strongholds by pushing for more action on climate change.
One in five Coalition voters consider climate change a key issue, while the number soars to 68 per cent for Greens’ voters and 44 per cent for Labor voters.
Victorians were far more concerned about law and order (38 per cent), than house prices (27 per cent) or infrastructure (28 per cent).
Border security, economic management and education were the biggest issues in NSW behind cost of living and health.
Queenslanders were equally concerned about jobs and climate change (36 per cent), and ranked them higher than border security and migration (34 per cent) or tax (30 per cent).
South Australians saw climate change as their third biggest issue, in front of jobs, education, border security or welfare spending.
Labor is likely to benefit the most from the current mood in Australia which is revealed in the wide-ranging ‘Australia Speaks’ survey.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten unveiled a bold election pitch to Aussie battlers and a $2.3 billion health package to slash the medical bills of cancer patients in his official budget reply speech on Thursday night.
News Corp revealed yesterday the ALP is tipped for a landslide election victory, while the Coalition could lose up to 15 seats.
After five years in power, the Coalition is likely to take a hit over cost of living issues given wage growth remains sluggish and households haven’t seen a major reduction in power bills.
Both Labor and the Coalition are offering economic growth and stability as a major selling points, but economic management was only a big issue for about a third of Australians.
Border protection was a factor for 44 per cent of Coalition voters, but only mattered to one in four Labor voters and 18 per cent of Greens’ supporters.
Education and jobs were the biggest issues for parents, behind cost of living and health.
Tax and welfare spending were the only issues where Australia’s highest and lowest paid workers really differed.
Unsurprisingly, low income earners cared far more about welfare (36 per cent) than those on the highest bracket (21 per cent), while tax was a much bigger issue for Australians earning more than $100,000 a year than those making less than $50,000 per year.
Drought-relief was a key issue for one in five voters.
Measures to crackdown on banking misconduct could also be a factor, with a massive 62 per cent of Australians saying they don’t think the banks have “learnt their lessons” from the royal commission.
In a sign that Coalition attacks over Labor’s union ties are unlikely to have a big sway on voters, the poll showed 38 per cent of Australians viewed them as having a positive influence on the country, while 35 per cent saw them as a negative.
Most Coalition supporters (57 per cent) saw trade unions as having a negative influence, while unsurprisingly most Labor (56 per cent) and Green (56 per cent) voters saw them as a positive.
PRICES A KEY BATTELEGROUND
Power prices will be a key election issue with the exclusive Australia Speaks survey revealing they’re the most concerning household expense for the majority of voters.
Millennials were the only demographic that didn’t view rising electricity and gas prices as their key concern, according to a special election edition YouGov Galaxy poll.
Young Australians saw their mortgage as the bigger issue, with 28 per cent saying it was their main concern.
Every other demographic — Baby Boomers, Gen X, mums and dads, Australians without children and voters in every state and territory — named electricity bills as their chief concern among household expenses.
It’s unsurprising when a consumer watchdog report last year showed household power bills have risen 35 per cent in real terms in ten years since 2008.
That’s a price jump of about $426.
Private health insurance was the second biggest concern among household expenses, followed by mortgage payments and grocery bills.
The cost of petrol was a minor concern, with just 7 per cent of Australians listing it as a key issue.
South Australia, which overtook Denmark to have the highest electricity bills in the world in 2017, was the state which saw power prices as their biggest concern, followed by NSW and Victoria.
Regional voters saw electricity and gas bills as their biggest concern by far (39 per cent), followed by insurance costs (21 per cent).
Australia’s lowest paid workers were far more concerned about power bills than higher paid workers, with 40 per cent naming it as an issue compared to just 24 per cent of workers that earned more than $100,000 per year.
WE’VE BEEN FORCED TO GO SOLAR
Craigieburn father of two Ben Williams is feeling the rising cost of living — and taking action.
“We ended up getting solar hoping to save money, which it has, our bills are a lot lower,” Mr Williams said.
“I have also definitely noticed things like groceries going up in price.
“Ways we try to reduce the cost of groceries is by doing big cook-ups on the weekend ready for the week, that’s one way we’ve found to reduce it.”
The 43-year-old said the steep cost of tech devices for his children was an emerging cost.
“There are new requirements that all kids have devices, they’ve had to have iPads from prep upwards and that all sort of happens at once as well,” he said.
“It’s almost a norm for kids to have phones these days as well so there’s all these kind of new things younger people didn’t have in the past.”
“There are all these new sort of expenses now having to have the technology.”
Originally published as Biggest issue affecting Australians at this year’s Federal Election revealed in YouGov Galaxy poll
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