Support for universal access to health and education is strong in Australia with a new opinion poll showing nine in 10 voters think those services should be provided free of charge.

The Ipsos survey, released days before the federal budget, also found eight in 10 Australians agree the rich should be “taxed more” to support the poor.

The findings were part of a 28-nation survey that probed attitudes to socialist ideas in the 21st century.

It showed half of Australian respondents (49 per cent) agreed that “socialist ideals are of great value for societal progress". But the same share (49 per cent) said that socialism is a system of “political oppression, mass surveillance and state terror".