The republic issue from the Trends in Australian Political Opinion.
Which is consistent with what we know already. Australians are predominantly a republican people (and democratic people from the other graphs). There is enough flag disillusionment that a pluralist flag response would work as a policy; and finally the Queen has lost her position of having civic meaning or purpose in Australia. The graph is not really showing anything new.
Which is consistent with what we know already. Australians are predominantly a republican people (and democratic people from the other graphs). There is enough flag disillusionment that a pluralist flag response would work as a policy; and finally the Queen has lost her position of having civic meaning or purpose in Australia. The graph is not really showing anything new. # Guy commented : Frustrating that we know there is a strong majority in favour of a republic, but the actions required to actually effect the change are so slow and hopelessly mired in politics that we are all left wondering whether the effort will be worth it in the end.
Another interesting graph from the Trends in Australian Political Opinion on the interest of voters in politics.
If you sum the voters that are some[what] interested and a good deal interested in 2004 then it becomes 79% of respondents. This is probably why there is a vibrant Australian political blogopshere and also why the op-ed columnists in the daily rags have a ready audience for their meat throwing trolls.
If you sum the voters that are some[what] interested and a good deal interested in 2004 then it becomes 79% of respondents. This is probably why there is a vibrant Australian political blogopshere and also why the op-ed columnists in the daily rags have a ready audience for their meat throwing trolls. # Guy commented : If this is simply based on personal survey results - I'm not sure how much this particular graph is worth. My feeling would be that there would be a very strong motivation for people to over-report their interest in politics. Nobody really wants to communicate the fact that they are out of touch with what are perceived to be "important" issues.
Save for the people who really get a kick of saying they don't care, of course.
# cam commented : Guy, I would not be surprised is this true. If you look at the media market it is heavily biased toward political reporting. If there was no market for it, and if their audience did not want that type of news, then TheAustralian, SMH and Nightly news would look more like the Womans Weekly or Who magazine.
The Trends in Australian Political Opinion is a must read for graph junkies. Tonnes and tonnes of interesting data that is cleanly laid out. One such fascinating graph is voting considerations.
Voters are policy driven and a larger percent is more interested in the party than the party leader or the local representative when considering how they will vote. This paints a far more sophisticated picture of the Australian voter than the celebrity horse race the media prefers.
Voters are policy driven and a larger percent is more interested in the party than the party leader or the local representative when considering how they will vote. This paints a far more sophisticated picture of the Australian voter than the celebrity horse race the media prefers. 
