The largest poll of climate change attitudes ever conducted in Australia has revealed nearly three quarters of voters in the blue ribbon seat of Wentworth want to see the federal government doing more on climate change action.
A YouGov poll, conducted on behalf of the Australian Conservation Foundation, found 70% of voters in the Sydney harbourside seat of Wentworth believe the federal government needs to do more or much more to address climate change.
The polling also found 71% of Wentworth don't believe fossil fuels, such as coal or gas, should be part of Australia's future energy mix. 38% ranked climate change as their top election issue, while 33% said it was among their top three issues.
"Voters in Wentworth are tied for third place nationally for the level of importance they place on climate change in how they'll vote," said ACF chief executive Kelly O'Shanassy.
"They're also in the top 20 electorates that want to see the government do much more.
"The fact that nearly two fifths of voters in this blue ribbon Liberal seat now consider climate change more important than other key election issues, such as tax, healthcare and education, represents a big shift. This is part of a broader 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 construct an estimate of how issues would play out in that specific geographical area. It allows for the poll to be broken down by electorates as well as demographics 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 Bondi is more likely to share the same views about climate change with someone the same age in Maitland or Wagga Wagga, 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.
