Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia) January 2011 – December 2012, n = 87,416.

Base: Australian Electors. Professions with a sample size <100 have been excluded.



Data from Roy Morgan Research shows which professions are most likely to vote above the norm for each of the major parties this September.

An electorate of only Train and Tram Drivers, Intelligence and Policy Analysts and Mail Sorters would give a landslide to the ALP (but the party would be left seat-less if only Defence Force personnel, Manufacturers and Financial Advisers got a ballot), while if only Primary School Teachers voted, we’d have a neck-and-neck Federal Election this September.

60% of Crane, Hoist and Lift Operators, 53% of Train and Tram Drivers and 50% of Food and Drink Factory Workers give their first preference vote to the ALP, while over 60% of Defence Force members, Chief Executives, Police, Manufacturers, and Financial Investment Advisers, Managers and Brokers vote Liberal.

Top 10 professions more likely to vote for each party





Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia) January 2011 – December 2012, n = 87,416. Base: Australian Electors. Professions with a sample size <100 have been excluded.

Overall, jobs within the larger categories of Labourers, Machinery Operators and Drivers, Technicians and Trades Workers, and Community and Personal Service Workers are more likely than average to vote Labor, while Clerical and Administrative Workers and Managers are more likely to vote Liberal and those classified as Professionals are over 50% more likely to vote Greens.

The professions most skewed toward voting Greens cover a wide range of professions, from the unsurprising Social Professionals (33%) and Environmental Scientists (30%) to Intelligence and Policy Analysts (29%), Judicial and Other Legal Professionals (28%) and Psychologists (27%). Other professions with a more than double-the-average rate of voting Greens include Medical Laboratory Scientists, Librarians, and Software and Applications Programmers.

The professionals most likely to vote Family First are Meat, Poultry and Seafood Process Workers, Delivery Drivers, Waiters and Dental Assistants. Ministers of Religion are the 7th most likely at 7%—just behind Retail Supervisors.

Farmers of all stripes dominate the National Party’s list, although Cabinetmakers, Hotel and Motel Managers and Bus and Coach Drivers make the Top 10.

The proportion of Plasterers and Midwives voting Labor is dead-on average, as is that of Truck Drivers voting Liberal and Storepersons voting Greens.



Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says:

“It is interesting that while each of Labor’s Top 10 jobs is blue collar—consistent with the party’s traditional base—there is more variety within the Liberal and Greens lists: CEOs and Livestock Farmers are both over 50% more likely to vote Liberal than average, while Policy Analysts, Graphic Designers and Social Workers are all almost three times more likely than average to go Greens. “Survey Interviewers are 18% more likely to... give no answer when asked for their first preference vote.”





Click here to browse and download Roy Morgan Research’s Electorate Profiles or weekly Federal Voting Intention Reports with latest demographic trends.





For comments or further detail, please contact:

Michele Levine

Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: (03) 9224 5215

Mobile: 0411 129 093

Michele.Levine@roymorgan.com





About Roy Morgan Research

Roy Morgan Research is the largest independent Australian research company, with offices in each state of Australia, as well as in the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Indonesia. A full service research organisation specialising in omnibus and syndicated data, Roy Morgan Research has more than 75 years’ experience in collecting objective, independent information on consumers.

In Australia, Roy Morgan Research is considered to be the authoritative source of information on print media measurement, financial behaviour, voting intention and consumer confidence. Roy Morgan Research is a specialist in recontact customised surveys which provide invaluable and effective qualitative and quantitative information regarding customers and target markets.