The largest poll of climate change attitudes ever conducted in Australia has revealed three quarters of voters in the blue ribbon seats of Kooyong, Chisholm and Higgins want to see the federal government doing more on climate change action.
The YouGov poll, conducted on behalf of the Australian Conservation Foundation, found 74% of voters in Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's seat of Kooyong believe the federal government needs to do more or much more to address climate change. In the neighbouring Liberal-held seats of Chisholm and Higgins 72% and 75% of voters also wanted to see more action, respectively.
This was in line with voters in the Greens-held seat of Melbourne, where 74% said the government needed to do more or much more.
"Toorak and Brunswick might be worlds apart on the political spectrum, but this poll shows they are twins in terms of wanting the government to do more to fight climate change," said ACF chief executive Kelly O'Shanassy.
"In fact, this polling has shattered the myth that attitudes to climate change are a case of metro versus regional voters. The poll found a third of voters, regardless of whether they live in Surrey Hills or Latrobe Valley, want to see the government do much more to tackle climate change."
The polling also found 73% of voters in Kooyong and Chisholm, and 76% in Higgins, said fossil fuels, such as coal or gas, shouldn't be part of Australia's future energy mix. While 37% of Higgins voters and 29% of those in Kooyong and Chisholm, said climate change was their top election issue.
"Voters in these well-heeled, blue ribbon Liberal seats now consider climate change action to sit alongside other key issues, like tax, healthcare and education," Ms O'Shanassy said.
"But this is part of a broader, gradual groundswell we've observed nationally that sees voters across the country increasingly prioritise climate change as a key election issue."
The poll is the first time YouGov's multilevel regression with poststratification (MRP) has been used in Australia, after the technique's stunning success predicting the last British election.
YouGov interviewed a representative sample of over 15,000 Australian voters.
The MRP tool combines Census data, such as population density, education and household income, with polling data to estimate how issues would play out in different electorates in a statistically reliable way.
YouGov spokesperson Ben Oxenham said it was an innovative way of reliably mapping community sentiment across electorates.
"MRP is based on the idea that people with similar characteristics behave in similar ways, and allow us to paint a much more detailed picture using our polling data," Mr Oxenham said.
"This massive poll shows age and gender plays a much bigger role in determining voters' attitudes to climate change action than where they live."
"Our polling shows a young woman living in Prahran is more likely to share the same views about climate change with someone the same age in Wangaratta or Swan Hill, than she might with her baby boomer parents who live next door," Ms O'Shanassy said.
The poll found 71% of Australian women want to see the government do more, compared to 62% of men. 77% of women do not believe coal and gas should be a part of Australia's future energy mix, compared to 64% of men.
Age was also a key difference in Australian attitudes towards the government's action on climate change. 41% of 18 to 24 year olds wanted to see the government do "much more" compared to 31% of those aged 50 to 64, and 32% of those over 64. 79% of voters under 24 didn't believe coal or gas should be part of Australia's future energy mix, compared to 63% of over 65s.
A full breakdown of the polling across all electorates can be found here.
