Two-Thirds Think Howard's Bush Support Hurt Aust

PRESS RELEASE 6 SEPTEMBER 2007

GetUp/Roy Morgan Poll: Over Two-Thirds of Australians Think Prime Minister Howard’s Support For President Bush Has Hurt Australia

As US President George W Bush is in Sydney this week to meet with Prime Minister John Howard, a GetUp! survey conducted by Roy Morgan Research has found that over two-thirds of Australians say that John Howard’s support for George Bush on issues such as climate change and Iraq has hurt Australia’s reputation.

Only 16% say that Howard’s support for Bush has helped Australia’s reputation. “This research shows that Australians believe this association is in fact doing the nation more harm than good,” said GetUp Executive Director Brett Solomon.

The issues addressed in the survey question, climate change and Iraq, are both major issues at the APEC meeting, where environmental issues and national security are two of the three major agenda categories.

Remarkably, even among his own supporters, half (50%) say that Howard’s support for Bush has hurt Australia’s reputation, with fewer than a third (31%) saying it has helped.

On the issue of climate change, tomorrow surfers at Bondi Beach will unfurl a massive 144 square metre banner calling for binding climate targets at APEC, a visual symbol of the 500,000-signature global petition to APEC leaders delivered this week by online campaigners GetUp and Avaaz.

PHOTO/TV OPPORTUNITY – SHOOT MASSIVE BANNER FROM CHERRY PICKER AT NORTH END OF BONDI BEACH, FRIDAY 7th 8.30am; FREE AUSSIE BBQ

Do you think that John Howard's support of George Bush's policies on issues such as Iraq and climate change has helped Australia's reputation or hurt it?
Helped it Hurt it No Difference/ Don’t Know
TOTAL 16% 69% 15%
Coalition voter (2PP) 31% 50% 20%[1]
ALP voter (2PP) 8% 84% 8%
Conducted by Roy Morgan Research August 8-9, 2007; n=623 adults 18+

This survey was conducted nationally among 623 respondents aged 18 years and over, by telephone over the period of 8th and 9th of August 2007 by fully trained and personally briefed interviewers. Respondents were selected by means of a stratified random sample process. At the 95% confidence level the survey had a ±4% margin of error overall, with higher margins of error in subgroups.

ENDS

About GetUp: GetUp.org.au is an independent movement to build a progressive Australia. GetUp brings together like-minded people who want to bring participation back into our democracy. GetUp has over 190,000 members nationwide.

[1] Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Note for domestic press: These poll results were released in Australia last week.

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