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Over a quarter of Australians (28%, down 1% since October 2007) believe the clash of ‘Rich v Poor’ will be the most serious problem facing the world over the next 10 years, just ahead of Christianity v Islam (26%, up 1%), but well ahead of East v West (13%, unchanged), Palestine v Israel (13%, up 2%) and Jews v Muslims (10%, up 2%) according to a special telephone Morgan Poll conducted on the nights of February 21-24, 2011.

An increasing number of Australians 34% (up 9% since October 2007) say Muslims are ‘Most responsible for the terrorism our world is living with everyday’ compared to just 11% (down 7%) who said Americans, 9% (up 1%) who said Arabs, 5% (up 2%) who said The East and 4% (unchanged) who said Israelis.

These results show a big shift over the past three-and-half years as Muslims are increasingly blamed for terrorism in the world. The October 2007 telephone Morgan Poll was conducted at the height of Middle East tensions with American forces involved in heavy battles in Iraq.

The subsequent withdrawal of American forces and also the election of Barack Obama as US President replacing former President George W. Bush are likely responsible for the large fall (down 7%) in the number of Australians who hold Americans ‘Most responsible for the terrorism our world is living with everyday.’

Respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with eight statements about democracy, government, religion and charity:

• Almost all Australians (92%, down 1%) agree with the statement “I believe in democracy” compared to only 5% (unchanged) that disagree.
  
  
• Australians are split about the current Government though with 46% (down 11%) agreeing with the statement “The Government is doing a good job running the country” compared to 47% (up 9%) that disagree and 47% (unchanged) of Australians agreeing with the statement “I don’t trust the current Government’ compared to 49% (unchanged) that disagree. The previous time this special telephone Morgan Poll was conducted was in mid October 2007 — one month before former Prime Minister John Howard was defeated at the 2007 Federal election.
  
  
• In a separate question, a clear majority of Australians (77%, unchanged) believe that “democracy is working in Australia” compared to 18% (up 2%) who say it isn’t.
  
  
• A small majority of Australians (55%, down 4%) disagree with the statement “Corruption is one of the major problems facing Australia” compared to 40% (up 2%) that agree.
  
  
• A plurality of Australians (49%, up 3%) agrees with the statement “Religion is an important part of everyday life,” just more than those who disagree (46%, down 4%).
  
  
• Despite nearly half of Australians believing “Religion is an important part of everyday life” only 25% (up 1%) agree with the statement “I regularly go to my place of worship” compared to 75% (down 1%) that disagree.
  
  
• However, virtually all Australians (98%, up 1%) agree with the statement “Religion is a personal choice and should not be imposed on others” compared to only 1% (down 1%) that disagree.
  
  
• In terms of charity, a clear majority of Australians (59%, down 3%) disagree with the statement “I believe a percentage of everyone’s income should go to charity,” compared to just a third of Australians (37%, up 2%) that agree.

When asked “In your opinion, how long do you think it will be until a solution to the global conflict in our divided world is found? Would you say — within 5 years; within 10 years; within 20 years; never, we will always live with this problem?” a large majority of Australians (75%, up 4%) say ‘never, we will always live with this problem,’ far more than say ‘within 20 years’ (12%, down 1%), ‘within 10 years’ (7%, down 1%) or ‘within 5 years’ (2%, unchanged).

Gary Morgan says:

“Over a third of Australians (34%, up 9% since October 2007) say ‘Muslims’ are the ‘one group most responsible for the terrorism our world is living with everyday.’ This is far greater than for Americans (11%, down 7%), Arabs (9%, up 1%), The East (5%, up 2%) or Israelis (4%, unchanged).

“Looking at global issues shows that Australians are slightly more concerned about the problem of ‘Rich v Poor’ (28%, down 1% since October 2007) as the biggest problem facing the world in the next 10 years than Christianity v Islam (26%, up 1%), East v West (13%, unchanged) or Palestine v Israel (13%, up 2%).

“Although Australian belief in democracy is strong — (92%, down 1%) ‘believe in democracy’ a lower majority (77%, unchanged) say that ‘democracy is working in Australia.’ The current Government does not fare well either with only 46% (down 11%) agreeing that ‘The Government is doing a good job running the country’ — this compares with 57% who agreed with that statement about the Government of John Howard — just one month before John Howard lost the 2007 Federal election.”

These findings come from a special Roy Morgan survey conducted in Australia on attitudes towards democracy and issues facing the World and Australia into the future. In Australia, a cross-section of 647 men and women aged 14 or over were interviewed by telephone on February 21-24, 2011.

For further information:

Gary Morgan:     Office +61 3 9224 5213 Mobile +61 411 129 094

Michele Levine:   Office +61 3 9224 5215 Mobile +61 411 129 093

Australian Democracy

Respondents were asked their opinion of democracy in Australia:

1. “In your opinion, is democracy working in Australia, or not?”

	All Respondents 14+		Primary Voting Intention
	Oct 17-18, 2007	Feb 21-24, 2011	ALP	L-NP	Greens	Other	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes	77	77	81	76	82	73	50
No	16	18	14	20	18	23	28
Can’t say	7	5	5	4	-	4	22
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

Respondents were then asked whether they agreed or disagreed with these eight statements:

2 a) “I believe in democracy”

	All Respondents 14+		Primary Voting Intention
	Oct 17-18, 2007	Feb 21-24, 2011	ALP	L-NP	Greens	Other	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Agree	93	92	91	96	98	90	86
Disagree	5	5	5	3	-	6	5
Can’t say	2	3	4	1	2	4	9
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

b) “The Government is doing a good job running the country”

	All Respondents 14+		Primary Voting Intention
	Oct 17-18, 2007	Feb 21-24, 2011	ALP	L-NP	Greens	Other	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Agree	57	46	78	18	60	34	42
Disagree	38	47	14	78	31	56	31
Can’t say	5	7	8	4	9	10	27
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

c) “I don’t trust the current Government.”

	All Respondents 14+		Primary Voting Intention
	Oct 17-18, 2007	Feb 21-24, 2011	ALP	L-NP	Greens	Other	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Agree	47	47	19	73	26	65	41
Disagree	49	49	79	24	70	32	49
Can’t say	4	4	2	3	4	3	10
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

d) “Corruption is one of the major problems facing Australia.”

	All Respondents 14+		Primary Voting Intention
	Oct 17-18, 2007	Feb 21-24, 2011	ALP	L-NP	Greens	Other	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Agree	38	40	33	42	50	45	53
Disagree	59	55	60	54	50	47	41
Can’t say	3	5	7	4	-	8	6
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

e) “Religion is an important part of everyday life.”

	All Respondents 14+		Primary Voting Intention
	Oct 17-18, 2007	Feb 21-24, 2011	ALP	L-NP	Greens	Other	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Agree	46	49	49	52	44	54	47
Disagree	50	46	47	43	47	41	53
Can’t say	4	5	4	5	9	5	-
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

f) “I regularly go to my place of worship.”

	All Respondents 14+		Primary Voting Intention
	Oct 17-18, 2007	Feb 21-24, 2011	ALP	L-NP	Greens	Other	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Agree	24	25	24	26	20	23	24
Disagree	76	75	75	73	80	77	76
Can’t say	0	0	1	1	-	-	-
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

g) “Religion is a personal choice and should not be imposed on others.”

	All Respondents 14+		Primary Voting Intention
	Oct 17-18, 2007	Feb 21-24, 2011	ALP	L-NP	Greens	Other	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Agree	97	98	99	98	100	98	97
Disagree	2	1	1	1	-	2	-
Can’t say	1	1	-	1	-	-	3
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

h) “I believe a percentage of everyone’s income should go to charity.”

	All Respondents 14+		Primary Voting Intention
	Oct 17-18, 2007	Feb 21-24, 2011	ALP	L-NP	Greens	Other	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Agree	35	37	39	32	46	32	30
Disagree	62	59	56	64	52	66	62
Can’t say	3	4	5	4	2	2	8
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

Respondents were then asked a series of questions about problems facing the world over the next 10 years and terrorism and how long it will take until global conflicts can be resolved.

3. a) “In the nest 10 years, which of the following do you think will be serious problems facing the world?” Palestine v Israel; Rich v Poor; East v West; Islam v Christianity; Jews v Muslims?”

	All Respondents 14+		Primary Voting Intention
	Oct 17-18, 2007	Feb 21-24, 2011	ALP	L-NP	Greens	Other	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Rich v Poor	41	38	42	36	51	29	44
Christianity v Islam	38	35	37	42	18	43	32
Palestine v Israel	29	22	24	18	42	15	10
East v West	24	19	17	22	18	21	16
Jews v Muslims	24	19	18	20	10	23	14
Can’t say	8	6	6	5	4	3	10
None of these	5	5	2	5	4	2	10
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

*Note: More than one answer was allowed for this question.

b) “And of the things you just mentioned, which ONE do you think will be the MOST serious problem facing the world in the next 10 years?”

	All Respondents 14+		Primary Voting Intention
	Oct 17-18, 2007	Feb 21-24, 2011	ALP	L-NP	Greens	Other	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Rich v Poor	29	28	31	25	37	23	31
Christianity v Islam	25	26	27	33	10	28	22
East v West	13	13	9	14	12	18	11
Palestine v Israel	11	13	15	9	31	9	5
Jews v Muslims	8	10	9	10	2	17	6
Can’t say	9	6	7	5	4	3	15
None of these	5	4	2	4	4	2	10
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

4. a) “In your opinion, which of the following groups are responsible for the terrorism our world is living with everyday?” (READ OUT ALL).

	All Respondents 14+		Primary Voting Intention
	Oct 17-18, 2007	Feb 21-24, 2011	ALP	L-NP	Greens	Other	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Muslims	47	47	47	59	21	49	30
Arabs	32	28	28	35	11	32	22
Americans	38	24	22	21	40	40	25
Israelis	28	23	21	27	22	31	18
The East	20	17	19	19	16	20	19
Christians	17	10	12	10	13	12	15
Jews	17	10	9	10	11	12	9
The West	19	10	10	9	24	7	15
Chinese	13	9	10	8	7	12	18
Indians	14	8	9	9	8	12	4
British	14	7	7	7	9	13	9
Australians	14	6	5	6	7	15	4
Europeans	13	6	6	7	7	10	10
Hindus	13	6	8	7	5	7	9
Buddhists	11	5	5	6	5	7	4
Can’t say	28	28	31	23	32	12	46
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

*Note: More than one answer was allowed for this question.

b) “And of the groups you just mentioned, which ONE GROUP do you think is MOST responsible for the terrorism our world is living with everyday?”

	All Respondents 14+		Primary Voting Intention
	Oct 17-18, 2007	Feb 21-24, 2011	ALP	L-NP	Greens	Other	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Muslims	25	34	35	46	7	24	16
Americans	18	11	9	5	29	26	12
Arabs	8	9	9	9	2	12	5
The East	3	5	6	4	9	6	3
Israelis	4	4	2	4	6	9	7
Australians	1	1	-	-	2	6	-
Christians	1	1	1	1	-	3	3
Jews	1	1	1	1	2	-	2
The West	2	1	1	1	10	-	-
Chinese	*	*	-	*	-	-	-
Indians	*	*	*	-	-	-	-
Buddhists	*	-	-	-	-	-	-
British	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Europeans	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Hindus	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Can’t say	37	33	36	29	33	14	52
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

5. “In your opinion, how long do you think it will be until a solution to the global conflict in our divided world is found? Would you say — within 5 years; within 10 years; within 20 years; never, we will always live with this problem?”

	All Respondents 14+		Primary Voting Intention
	Oct 17-18, 2007	Feb 21-24, 2011	ALP	L-NP	Greens	Other	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Never, we will always live with this problem	71	75	73	81	72	77	85
Within 20 years	13	12	14	9	12	9	6
Within 10 years	8	7	6	5	9	11	6
Within 5 years	2	2	4	*	7	3	-
Can’t say	6	4	3	5	-	-	3
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

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