Show caption Those who enrolled to vote after the same-sex marriage postal survey was announced are more likely to be young, female and live in the city. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images Same-sex marriage postal survey Women, young voters and inner-city dwellers drive survey enrolments Exclusive: August electoral enrolment surge dominated by those aged 18-24, in potential boon for yes campaign Paul Karp @Paul_Karp Sun 1 Oct 2017 18.00 BST Share on Facebook

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An enrolment surge in which an extra 98,000 Australians put their names down to vote in the marriage law postal survey was driven by young people, women and inner-city residents, new figures have revealed.

Women accounted for 57,152 new enrolments compared with 40,907 men, according to new Australian Electoral Commission statistics released late last week.

In total 65,274 people aged between 18 and 24 added their names to the roll between 8 August, when the postal survey was announced, and 24 August, the deadline to participate. Two-thirds of the new enrolments were under 24.

The figures are a boon for the Equality Campaign because polls show the highest rates of support for same-sex marriage are among women, the young and in the inner city.

On Tuesday the Guardian Essential poll found a majority of both sexes support same-sex marriage, but with higher levels of support among women (63%) than men (52%) and less opposition among women (28%) than men (38%).

According to the same poll, among people aged 18 to 35 supporters of marriage equality outnumbered opponents 65% to 28%.

The addition of 98,000 new voters and more than 930,00 enrolment transactions (which includes voters changing details) has grown the electoral roll to 16m Australians, in what the Equality Campaign called the most successful enrolment campaign in Australian history.

GetUp data analyst Ben Raue said the new figures “fit with a pattern we’re seeing that supporters of marriage equality really care about voting in the survey”.

“Particularly young people, particularly women and various demographics that support marriage equality really want to make sure they vote,” he said.

“That’s why we saw such a surge of people updating details and enrolling to vote.”

Raue said the scale of new enrolments meant those who had joined the roll were unlikely to be “hardcore activists” but rather “ordinary people who don’t engage in politics and may not bother to keep updated for a federal election”.

The Equality Campaign executive director, Tiernan Brady, said the enrolment figures “bode very well both in terms of the scale [of new voters] and who has registered”.

“The enrolment campaign was a huge success,” he said. “The breakdown of who has registered is a reflection how important this issue is.”

Brady said young people “show a real determination to stand up for their friends”, as they are more likely to have LGBTI friends.

“The support levels among women have always been really brilliant for marriage equality. Women understand the challenges that face people as they try to be treated equally and fairly.”

An analysis of the figures by Guardian Australia reveals the 10 electorates with the highest increase in voters were: Melbourne (1,487), Brisbane (1,305), Ryan in western Brisbane (1,249), Griffith in southern Brisbane (1,217), Sydney (1,140), Canberra (1,138), Melbourne Ports (1,092), Mayo in South Australia (1,048), Higgins in inner south-east Melbourne (1,004), and Fenner in the ACT (993).

According to the ABC’s Vote Compass five of those (Melbourne, Sydney, Melbourne Ports, Higgins and Fenner) were also in the top 10 electorates with the highest support for marriage equality in a sign the yes campaign are likely to benefit from the new enrolments.

The five electorates with the most young people (aged 18 to 24) to join the roll were also in the overall top 10: Ryan (921), Mayo (854), Canberra (834), Brisbane (749) and Griffith (749). These were followed by Wakefield (744), McEwen (716), La Trobe (676), Fenner (671), Barker (664) and Dickson (662).

The 10 electorates with the fewest new voters added tended to be regional or outer suburban areas, especially in Western Sydney: Fowler, Werriwa, Blaxland, Parkes, Macarthur, Banks, Shortland, McMahon, Lyne, Braddon and Chifley. Each added between 300 and 400 new voters, less than a third of the rates of new enrolments of those with the biggest increases.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release an update on the number of Australians who have already voted on Tuesday.