Majority of Aussies reject a Trump-like leader in Australia
Just under one in four Australians believe Australia needs a prime minister like Donald Trump, according to DemosAU’s nationwide surveys of 2,945 adult respondents, carried our during May and August.
DemosAU Head of Research George Hasanakos said respondents were asked whether or not they agreed or disagreed with the statement “Australia needs a Prime Minister like Donald Trump”. The results showed a clear majority (63%) disagreed, compared to 23% who agreed and 12% who responded “don’t know”.
He said those that supported the idea of an Australian Prime Minister like Donald Trump were more likely to be male, aged under 55, earn between $75,000 and $200,000 a year, and vote for either the LNP or One Nation, compared to other demographics.
Mr Hasanakos said while no demographic recorded majority support for the concept of an Australian PM like Donald Trump, there was a gender divide, with men considerably more likely than women to agree with the statement. (Men: Agree 32% Disagree 55%, Women: Agree 15% Disagree 74%)
“Among men aged 45-54, support for an Australian Trump rises to almost four out of ten (38%), with those aged 35-44 and 25-34 not far behind, but among women, support never rises above two in ten, for any age cohort.”
Electorates Where Support for Trump is Highest
DemosAU produced an MRP model, based on these survey responses, to identify the electorates where support for an Australian Trump is higher than the mean.
The results show the 50 electorates where support for an Australian Trump is highest: in NSW and Queensland, in regional areas and some outer metro parts of Sydney and Brisbane.
However, even in these areas, the majority disagreed with the statement. For example, in the electorate projected to show the highest level of support for an Australian Trump: Mitchell in Sydney’s northwestern suburbs, agreement with the statement “Australia needs a Prime Minister like Donald Trump” stands at 29% with disagreement at 58%.
See the 50 electorates where support for an Australian Trump is highest below.
Australians prefer Kamala Harris over Donald Trump
Mr Hasanakos says that, on the whole, Donald Trump is not an especially popular political figure in Australia.
“Our August research shows that Australians would prefer Kamala Harris as US president over Donald Trump by a significant margin – 52% to 29%.
The gap between Australians’ preference for Democrats candidates over the Republican candidates has widened since Vice President Harris entered the race. In May, our survey of 1500 Australians showed support for Joe Biden at 43% while President Trump was again at 29%.
Mr Hasanakos said the majority of Australians also believed Australian leaders should avoid importing US style politics to Australia.
“When we asked respondents whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement “Australian leaders should not import US style politics to Australia – more than three quarters (76%) agreed, compared to just over one in ten (12%) who disagreed.
Please see our methodology statement for more details on these polls.
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