Abstract

This paper focuses on the views of Australians on politics and policy, just as the 2022 federal election campaign got underway. We use data from the April 2022 ANUpoll which collected data from 3,587 Australians aged 18 years and over. The data collection occurred between the 11^th and 26^th of April 2022. The survey asked voters what the next government’s priorities should be across more than 20 policy areas. Almost two-thirds of Australians (64.7 per cent) say reducing the cost of living should be the next federal government’s top priority. The survey found the second highest priority was fixing the aged care system, with 60.1 per cent of voters highlighting this as a key issue. The other top five priorities among voters included strengthening the nation’s economy (54.4 per cent), reducing the cost of health care (53.5 per cent), and dealing with global climate change (52.8 per cent) and. The policy area considered least important was dealing with issues of immigration, which was only of concern to 22.3 per cent of voters. Only 27.2 per cent of voters thought fixing the budget was a top priority. The April 2022 ANUpoll also outlined Australians’ voting intentions. There wasn’t any significant change in the number of people who said they would vote for the Coalition – 31.2 per cent in April compared to 31.7 per cent in January. There was a small drop in the number of people who said they’d vote for Labor, with 34.3 per cent saying they would in April compared to 36.3 per cent in January. This was counterbalanced by the slight increase in support for the Greens, increasing from 14.2 per cent of voters giving the party their vote in January to 16.2 per cent in April.   

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