Vote Compass: Kevin Rudd's asylum seekers policy divides Labor faithful

Updated

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's promise that asylum seekers who arrive by boat will never be allowed to settle in Australia has sharply divided Labor voters, according to data from the ABC's Vote Compass.

Coalition and Green voters are much more firmly locked in behind their parties' policy positions.

Use our interactive charts to explore voters' views on asylum seekers and immigration, and read ABC election analyst Antony Green's take on the data.

Settlement of asylum seekers who arrive by boat

Vote Compass figures show 48 per cent of Labor supporters disagree with the statement that asylum seekers who arrive by boat should not be allowed to settle in Australia, while 40 per cent of Labor voters agree with the party's policy.

Vote Compass respondents were asked for their view on this statement: Asylum seekers who arrive by boat should not be allowed to settle in Australia.

Turning back asylum seeker boats

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's pledge to turn back the boats divides Australians firmly along ideological lines. While more than two-thirds of Coalition voters believe asylum boats should be turned around, a clear majority of Labor and Green supporters do not.

The figures show clear differences in opinion on asylum seekers and immigration between men and women, and between those with and without university educations.

The further respondents live from the inner city, the more likely they are to support turning back asylum seekers' boats.

Vote Compass respondents were asked for their view on this statement: Boats carrying asylum seekers should be turned back.

Total number of new immigrants

Greens supporters are more likely than any other party to support more immigrants coming to Australia. Overall a third of respondents were happy for the level of immigration to stay about the same as now.

There are no notable discrepancies between the views of people born in Australia and those born overseas.

Vote Compass respondents were asked: How many new immigrants should Australia admit?

Restrictions on temporary work visas

Older Australians are far more likely than younger voters to believe restrictions on work visas for foreigners should be tightened.

Labor, with the support of independent MPs, recently passed contentious 457 visa legislation toughening the rules for local businesses seeking to hire overseas workers.

Retired and unemployed people are the most likely group to want tighter restrictions on foreign workers.

Vote Compass respondents were asked for their view on this statement: There should be more restrictions on 457 visas issued to temporary foreign workers.

FAQ

What is this?

When Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called the federal election for September 7, the ABC immediately launched Vote Compass.

Since then, we have received more than 800,000 responses, as people used the tool to see how their views compare to the parties' policies.

Between now and election day, the ABC will reveal weighted data gathered using the application.

This report explores how people responded to questions on the asylum seekers and immigration.

The data has been weighted by gender, age, education, enrolment as a student, religion, marital status, industry and state using the latest population estimates to be a true representation of opinion at the time of the field, resulting in an effective sample size of 376,201 respondents.

Vote Compass is not a random sample. Why are the results being represented as though it is a poll?

Vote Compass is not a poll. It is primarily and fundamentally an educational tool intended to promote electoral literacy and stimulate public engagement in the policy aspect of election campaigns.

That said, respondents' views as expressed through Vote Compass can add a meaningful dimension to our understanding of public attitudes and an innovative new medium for self-expression. Ensuring that the public has a decipherable voice in the affairs of government is a critical function of a robust democracy.

Online surveys are inherently prone to selection bias but statisticians have long been able to correct for this (given the availability of certain variables) by drawing on population estimates such as Census micro-data.

We apply sophisticated weighting techniques to the data to control for the selection effects of the sample, thus enabling us to make statistical inferences about the Australian population with a high degree of confidence.

The Vote Compass data sample was weighted on the basis of: gender; age; education; students; religion; marital status.

How can you stop people from trying to game the system?

There are multiple safeguards in place to ensure the authenticity of each record in the dataset.

Vote Compass does not make its protocols in this regard public so as not to aid those that might attempt to exploit the system, but among standard safeguards such as IP address logging and cookie tracking, it also uses time codes and a series of other measures to prevent users from gaming the system.

Want to know more?

Try it yourself

Find out where you stand with Vote Compass

Topics: federal-elections, australia

First posted