D0176: Australian Gallup Poll, August 15, 1958
POLLING ORGANISATION Roy Morgan Research Centre SURVEY METHOD Each weekend, 110 trained interviewers were sent to different but randomly- selected "cluster points" spread in proportion to population over cities and country areas throughout Australia excluding the ACT and the Northern Territory. Interviewers were instructed to commence interviewing at the dwelling adjacent to, and at the right of, the random start and to interview one individual there and, moving in a clockwise fashion around the block, in each adjacent dwelling until a cluster of 10 individuals was interviewed. Interviews were conducted during daylight hours, on Saturdays and Sundays when most people were at home. Each weekend, an Australia-wide cross-section of about 2,200 different adults aged 21 years and over from 110 districts were therefore interviewed. This poll is based on 1,900 interviews conducted in August 1958. BACKGROUND VARIABLES age / sex / economic classification / occupation / religion / location / vote at last Federal election / voting intention / car ownership / telephone subscriber / sex of interviewer / interviewer experience / WEIGHTING The responses are unweighted. A weighting variable (WEIGHT) is included in the data file to indicate the interviewer workloads selected for duplication. THEMES - NAMES AND RESPONSES 1a. The first question is about driving licences. In your opinion, what should be the LOWEST age for anyone to get a car driver's licence? Category label Code Count Percent 20 YEARS 0 92 4.8 21 YEARS 1 180 9.5 22 YEARS 2 4 .2 23 YEARS 3 3 .2 14 YEARS 4 5 .3 15 YEARS 5 12 .6 16 YEARS 6 153 8.1 17 YEARS 7 298 15.7 18 YEARS 8 1054 55.5 19 YEARS 9 58 3.1 NO OPINION 12 41 2.2 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 1b. For a driving licence do you think there should be a THOROUGH driving test, a SIMPLE driving test, or only some questions to answer? Category label Code Count Percent SIMPLE TEST Q1B2 1780 94.6 QUESTIONS ONLY Q1B3 77 4.1 NO OPINION Q1B4 37 2.0 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 1c. Should driving licences be for only ONE year, or for LONGER periods? Category label Code Count Percent ONE YEAR 2 924 48.6 LONGER 3 865 45.5 UNDECIDED 4 111 5.8 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 1d. If 'LONGER:' For how many years? Category label Code Count Percent 10 YEARS 0 79 4.2 1 2 .1 2 164 8.6 3 226 11.9 4 26 1.4 5 287 15.1 6 1 .1 7 6 .3 8 2 .1 OVER 10 YEARS 9 44 2.3 NOT ASKED 10 1037 54.6 CANT SAY 11 26 1.4 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 2a. And now about driving and drinking. A police doctor (in Victoria) says it should be an offence to drive after more than 10 beers or the equivalent in spirits. Do you think that should be an offence, or not? Category label Code Count Percent NO OPINION 0 100 5.3 NO 11 187 9.8 YES 12 1613 84.9 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 2b. If "YES": If a blood test shows that much has been drunk, what kind of penalty do you favor? Category label Code Count Percent FINE Q2B2 278 18.1 CANCEL LICENCE Q2B3 288 18.8 SUSPEND LICENSE Q2B4 496 32.3 OTHER Q2B5 596 38.9 NO OPINION Q2B6 17 1.1 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 3a. And next, a question about hire-purchase companies and home-building. It's been suggested hire-purchase companies should be compelled by law to lend some of their money to home builders at low rates of interest. Would you favor, or oppose, that idea? Category label Code Count Percent FAVOR 7 1419 74.7 OPPOSE 8 303 15.9 NO OPINION 9 178 9.4 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 3b. Do you happen to own or rent your home? Category label Code Count Percent OWN 7 1296 68.2 RENT 8 431 22.7 BOARDS 9 123 6.5 MISSING 10 50 2.6 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 4a. And now, a question on newspapers. About how many days a week excluding Sundays, do you read a MORNING paper? Category label Code Count Percent 0 277 14.6 1 37 1.9 2 35 1.8 3 61 3.2 4 40 2.1 5 47 2.5 6 1383 72.8 7 20 1.1 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 4b. About how many minutes do you spend reading morning newspapers, on the average? Category label Code Count Percent 0 287 15.1 1 1 .1 2 3 .2 3 1 .1 4 1 .1 5 53 2.8 7 2 .1 8 4 .2 10 185 9.7 12 3 .2 13 2 .1 15 206 10.8 18 6 .3 20 141 7.4 25 24 1.3 30 489 25.7 33 1 .1 35 10 .5 40 30 1.6 45 75 3.9 50 7 .4 55 1 .1 60 264 13.9 70 3 .2 75 5 .3 80 4 .2 90 35 1.8 95 1 .1 MORE THAN 100 MINUTES 99 55 2.9 MISSING 999 1 .1 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 4c. About how many days a week do you read an EVENING paper? Category label Code Count Percent 0 656 34.5 1 80 4.2 2 70 3.7 3 76 4.0 4 38 2.0 5 109 5.7 6 867 45.6 7 4 .2 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 4d. About how many minutes do you spend reading evening newspapers, on the average? Category label Code Count Percent 0 664 34.9 1 1 .1 2 1 .1 3 4 .2 4 1 .1 5 40 2.1 6 2 .1 8 3 .2 10 123 6.5 12 3 .2 13 2 .1 15 164 8.6 17 1 .1 18 5 .3 20 98 5.2 25 10 .5 30 383 20.2 33 1 .1 35 14 .7 40 25 1.3 43 1 .1 45 48 2.5 50 6 .3 60 228 12.0 70 1 .1 75 2 .1 80 3 .2 90 30 1.6 MORE THAN 100 MINUTES 99 35 1.8 MISSING 999 1 .1 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 5a. The next question is about political parties. Whether you vote Labor or not, which group in the Labor Party do you think is right - the Evatt group, or the new group called the Democratic Labor Party? Category label Code Count Percent EVATT 1 606 31.9 DLP 2 495 26.1 NO OPINION 3 799 42.1 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 5b. And now to see if we can forecast the coming Federal election. If a Federal election were being held today, which Party do you think you would probably vote for - Liberal, Country, Australian Labor, Democratic Labor, Communist, or Independent? Category label Code Count Percent LIBERAL CP 4 859 45.2 ALP 5 639 33.6 DEM LABOR 6 132 6.9 COMMUNIST 7 4 .2 INDEPENDENT 8 22 1.2 UNDECIDED 9 244 12.8 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 6. And a different kind of question about paintings. Which kind of paintings do you prefer - pictures showing things as they ACTUALLY ARE - or pictures giving the artist's IMPRESSIONS of what he sees? Category label Code Count Percent LIKE BOTH 0 95 5.0 NO OPINION 1 155 8.2 IMPRESSION 11 172 9.1 AS THEY ARE 12 1478 77.8 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 7. And next a question about the Federal Budget, which is now before Parliament. On the whole, do you think the Federal Budget is reasonable, or not? Category label Code Count Percent YES REASONABLE 2 733 38.6 NO 3 718 37.8 NO OPINION 4 449 23.6 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 8a. And next about book-makers and totes. At race-courses, do you think there should be only book-makers, or only totalisators - or should there be both? Category label Code Count Percent BOOKMAKERS 5 67 3.5 TOTALISATORS 6 256 13.5 BOTH 7 955 50.3 NO OPINION 8 622 32.7 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 8b. Do you go to the races fairly regularly, or only occasionally, or never? Category label Code Count Percent NEVER 0 1205 63.4 ONLY OCCASIONALLY 11 601 31.6 FAIRLY REGULARLY 12 94 4.9 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 8c. To help classify answers to this question, would you mind telling me your religion? Category label Code Count Percent ROMAN CATHOLIC 1 397 20.9 CHURCH ENGLAND 2 737 38.8 PRESBYTERIAN 3 287 15.1 METHODIST 4 258 13.6 BAPTIST 5 34 1.8 PROTESTANT 6 16 .8 OTHER CHRISTIAN 7 96 5.1 NON-CHRISTIAN 8 10 .5 NO RELIGION 9 13 .7 MISSING 10 52 2.7 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 9a. And now a question about shares in factories operated here by overseas companies. When a factory is set up here by an overseas company, do you think they should be allowed to own ALL the shares, or should some shares be offered to Australians? Category label Code Count Percent NO OPINION 0 114 6.0 SOME AUSTRALIAN 11 1687 88.8 ALL OVERSEAS 12 99 5.2 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 9b. Do you (or your husband) happen to own any shares in companies listed on the STOCK Exchange? Category label Code Count Percent YES 1 312 16.4 NO 2 1568 82.5 MISSING 3 20 1.1 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 10. The Soviet Prime Minister says that, by war or peaceful competition, the whole world will in time become socialistic like Russia. Do you think that's likely to happen or not? Category label Code Count Percent YES LIKELY 3 324 17.1 NO 4 1329 69.9 UNDECIDED 5 247 13.0 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0 11. Recently America's Secretary for Defence said he favored using 'limited and hopefully clean' atomic weapons in a localised war. If America gets into a war in the Middle East, do you think they should, or should not, use their smaller atomic weapons? Category label Code Count Percent SHOULD 6 555 29.2 SHOULD NOT 7 1043 54.9 UNDECIDED 8 302 15.9 ------- ----- Total responses 1900 100.0
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