Australians’ sympathies in the Israel-Gaza conflict have flipped, with more now wanting to provide assistance to Palestine than Israel and a big drop in those who say Israel’s reaction to the 7 October attack by Hamas is proportionate.
The Guardian Essential poll of 1,150 voters, released on Tuesday, also found that Anthony Albanese’s approval rating is now negative for the first time in his prime ministership.
Asked what Australia should do in “the current conflict in Israel and Palestine”, about 21% said provide “active support” to Palestine, up eight points since October, while 17% said to do so for Israel, down six points. The majority (61%) called for Australia to “stay out of the conflict entirely”.
About two-thirds of voters are concerned about the risk of escalation globally (66%) or hostilities between Palestinian and Israeli communities at home (63%).
Approximately 35% described Israel’s response as “proportionate”, down seven points since October, the month of the Hamas attack that Israel estimates to have killed 1,200.
More than 10,800 people have now been killed in Gaza, almost 70% of them women and children. Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has called for “steps towards” a ceasefire including for Hamas to release hostages and for Israel to stop attacking hospitals.
Less than one-third (31%) of voters say they are satisfied with the federal government’s response to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The majority of Australians (54%) think, in general, Australia should “stay out” of taking an active role in world affairs.
The tendency towards isolation is also reflected in changing attitudes to migration. While more voters (46%) say immigration is “generally positive”, this is a decline of five points since 2019. Others say it is “generally negative” (34%) or they are “unsure” (20%).
Asked about “the current tensions between the US and China”, two-thirds (66%) of voters say Australia should stay “as neutral as possible”, just over a quarter (27%) think we should “actively support the US” and just 6% say we should actively support China.
Asked to rate Albanese on a scale of 0-10, just one-third (33%) of voters gave the prime minister a positive score of 7 to 10, down four points since August. About 35% rated him 0 to 3, a negative score, up six points. A further 28% were neutral (4 to 6), down three points.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, recorded a five-point boost with 32% now giving him a positive score. An unchanged 35% rated him negatively, while neutrals (27%) fell four points.
With Australians struggling due to the cost of living, rents and 13 interest rate rises, voters do not seem to have registered or credited the government’s diplomatic efforts even after Albanese visits to the US, to China and the Pacific Islands forum. Asked to rate the Albanese Labor government’s performance on international relations, just 6% said it was “excellent”, 19% said “above average”, 45% “average”, 15% “below average” and 15% “poor”.
Asked what it had done with the China relationship since its election in May 2022, about 11% said it was much better, unchanged since November 2022. Meanwhile, 34% said it was a “little better”, 44% said “no different”, 7% “a little worse” and 4% “much worse”.
Most respondents said Australia had a positive relationship with the UK (66%), US (65%), and Pacific nations (52%), but were less decided on European Union nations (49%) and India (47%). Respondents were more hostile to China, with just one-quarter (25%) saying relations were positive, while just 10% thought Australia had a positive relationship with Russia.
More Australians now think the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine partnership will not affect Australia’s security (42%) than say it make us more secure (39%). A further 18% say it will make Australia less secure.
Most voters are expecting this year’s bushfire season to be worse (44%) or about the same (46%) as last year’s, while just 10% said it would be better. Almost a third (31%) think this season will be even worse than the catastrophic 2019-20 season.
A majority (53%) believe climate change has made bushfires worse, while 31% said climate change has “nothing to do” with bushfires.
