D0182: Australian Gallup Poll, February 5, 1960
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 1,357 interviews conducted in February 1960. BACKGROUND VARIABLES age / sex / economic classification / occupation / religion / location / vote at last Federal election / voting intention / car ownership / telephone subscriber / Labor vote 1955 election / Labor vote 1958 election / sex of interviewer / respondent status / 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 shopping hours. Do you think shops should, or should not, be open on Friday evening, to about 9 o'clock? Category label Code Count Percent UNDECIDED 10 93 6.9 NO 11 474 34.9 SHOULD 12 790 58.2 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 1b. If they DID open Friday evening, should they open, or close, Saturday morning? Category label Code Count Percent OPEN SATURDAY 1 542 39.9 CLOSE 2 624 46.0 UNDECIDED 3 175 12.9 MISSING 4 16 1.2 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 2. The next question is about the means test, which stops people with more than a certain amount of money, or income, from getting the pension. In your opinion, should the means test for old age and invalid pensions be continued - or abolished now or abolished over, say, five years, by gradually raising the permissible amounts? Category label Code Count Percent CONTINUE 4 232 17.1 ABOLISH NOW 5 681 50.2 GRADUALLY 6 367 27.0 UNDECIDED 7 77 5.7 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 3a. And now, about living costs. In your opinion, what's the SMALLEST amount a family of four - parents and 2 children - need each week, to keep in health and live decently - that is, the smallest amount for ALL expenses, including rent? Category label Code Count Percent L11 OR LESS 1 50 3.7 L12 2 67 4.9 L13 3 19 1.4 L14 4 89 6.6 L15 5 227 16.7 L16 6 152 11.2 L17 7 52 3.8 L18 8 131 9.7 L19 9 10 .7 L20 10 270 19.9 OVER L20-AVERAGE L22 11 67 4.9 NO IDEA 12 223 16.4 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 3b. About how much is FOOD costing YOUR family each week? Category label Code Count Percent 1 2 .1 2 7 .5 3 24 1.8 4 49 3.6 5 81 6.0 6 99 7.3 7 114 8.4 8 165 12.2 9 82 6.0 10 246 18.1 11 31 2.3 12 89 6.6 13 15 1.1 14 17 1.3 15 33 2.4 16 5 .4 18 4 .3 20 2 .1 24 1 .1 50 1 .1 MISSING 99 290 21.4 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 3c. How many are there in your family, 16 and over? Category label Code Count Percent 1 1 160 11.8 2 2 318 23.4 3 3 248 18.3 4 4 289 21.3 5 5 174 12.8 6 6 75 5.5 7 7 37 2.7 8 8 11 .8 9 9 3 .2 10+ 10 6 .4 MISSING 12 36 2.7 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 4a. And now a question about drink and aboriginals. Under Northern Territory law, both white men and aboriginal citizens must be sent to gaol for at least 6 months, if convicted of giving drink to aboriginals who are not citizens. Do you approve of that? Or should the Court have power to impose lighter sentences on aboriginal-citizens (for giving drink to aboriginals who are not citizens)? Category label Code Count Percent UNDECIDED 9 215 15.8 SAME AS WHITES 10 4 .3 POWER 11 785 57.8 APPROVE 12 353 26.0 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 5a. The next question is about books. Which of these books (HAND LIST) do happen to have in your home at the moment? READ LIST, CIRCLE AFTER ALL THERE. Category label Code Count Percent ATLAS Q5A01 1037 76.5 BIBLE Q5A02 1242 91.7 CHILD Q5A03 682 50.3 COOK Q5A04 1237 91.3 DICTIONARY Q5A05 1221 90.1 ENCYCLOPEDIA Q5A06 801 59.1 DOCTOR Q5A07 808 59.6 SHAKESPEARE Q5A08 573 42.3 NONE Q5A09 14 1.0 ------- ----- Total responses 1355 100.0 5b. And how long is it since you last read anything in the Bible? Category label Code Count Percent IN LAST WEEK 1 409 30.1 2 WEEKS 2 105 7.7 3-4 WEEKS 3 86 6.3 5-6 WEEKS 4 40 2.9 7-9 WEEKS 5 46 3.4 10-13 WEEKS 6 25 1.8 14-40 WEEKS 7 54 4.0 1 YEAR 8 67 4.9 2 YEARS 9 55 4.1 3-5 YEARS 10 47 3.5 MANY YEARS 11 136 10.0 NEVER READ;CAN'T SAY 12 287 21.1 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 5c. Do you happen to be reading a book of any kind at present? Category label Code Count Percent NO 11 703 51.8 YES 12 651 48.0 MISSING 13 3 .2 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 5d. IF "YES": What kind of book is it? Category label Code Count Percent MURDER Q5D01 56 8.6 ADVENTURE Q5D02 126 19.3 RELIGION Q5D03 45 6.9 WAR Q5D04 76 11.6 TRAVEL Q5D05 53 8.1 HISTORY Q5D06 81 12.4 BIOGRAPHY Q5D07 50 7.6 ART Q5D08 7 1.1 SCIENCE Q5D09 34 5.2 LOVE Q5D10 49 7.5 OTHERS Q5D11 121 18.5 ------- ----- Total responses 654 100.0 6. Next a question on election prospects. If a Federal election were being held today, which Party do you think you would probably vote for? IF 'LABOR': Would it be ALP or DLP? Category label Code Count Percent LIBERAL, C.P 4 592 43.6 A.L.P 5 541 39.9 D.L.P 6 42 3.1 COMMUNIST 7 1 .1 INDEPENDENT 8 11 .8 UNDECIDED 9 170 12.5 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 7a. Next, about Western New Guinea, now governed by the Dutch and claimed by the Indonesians. Who do you think should govern Western New Guinea? Please look on the back of the card. The Dutch, the Indonesians, the United Nations, Australia or someone else? Category label Code Count Percent U.N 0 318 23.4 AUSTRALIA 1 321 23.7 OTHERS 2 9 .7 NO IDEA 3 298 22.0 AUSTRALIA AND U.N 4 2 .1 AUSTRALIA AND DUTCH 5 1 .1 INDONESIANS 6 94 6.9 DUTCH 7 314 23.1 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 8a. And a question about oversea companies with branches here. When a factory is set up here by an oversea company, do you think that company should be allowed to own ALL the shares in its Australian branch - or should it have to offer to sell some shares to Australians? Category label Code Count Percent OWN ALL 4 106 7.8 OFFER SOME 5 1183 87.2 NO OPINION 6 68 5.0 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 8b. IF 'SOME': What percentage should it have to offer to Australians? Category label Code Count Percent 10-20% 1 49 3.6 25% 2 165 12.2 30-33.3-35% 3 97 7.1 40-45% 4 97 7.1 49% 5 50 3.7 50% 6 462 34.0 51-59% 7 57 4.2 60% 8 23 1.7 61-99% 9 41 3.0 100%- UNLIMITED 10 4 .3 NO IDEA; NO ANSWER 12 137 10.1 NOT ASKED 13 174 12.8 MISSING 14 1 .1 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 8c. ASK EVERYONE: Do you (or your husband) happen to own any shares in companies listed on the Stock Exchange? Category label Code Count Percent YES 7 222 16.4 NO 8 1087 80.1 MISSING 9 48 3.5 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 9a. And a question about church going. Apart from weddings, christenings, funerals and similar occasions, how long is it since you last went to Church? Category label Code Count Percent IN THE LAST WEEK 1 397 29.3 2 WEEKS 2 88 6.5 3-4 WEEKS 3 115 8.5 5-6 WEEKS 4 76 5.6 7-9 WEEKS 5 62 4.6 10-13 WEEKS 6 36 2.7 14-40 WEEKS 7 55 4.1 1 YR-INC 10,11 MTHS 8 83 6.1 2 YRS-INC 18 MTHS 9 79 5.8 3-5 YEARS 10 65 4.8 LONGER; MANY YEARS 11 127 9.4 NEVER GO 12 174 12.8 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 9b. To help classify answers to this question, would you mind telling me your religion? Category label Code Count Percent ROMAN CATHOLIC 1 249 18.3 CHURCH OF ENGLAND 2 541 39.9 PRESBYTERIAN 3 187 13.8 METHODIST 4 220 16.2 BAPTIST 5 30 2.2 OTHER CHRISTIANS 7 82 6.0 NON-CHRISTIAN 8 11 .8 NO RELIGION 9 13 1.0 NO ANSWER 10 24 1.8 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 10a. Have you hears or read of the Colombo Plan, by which Australia and several other countries help Asian countries? Category label Code Count Percent NO 11 149 11.0 YES, HEARD 12 1208 89.0 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 10b. Under one part of the Colombo Plan a lot of Asian students come here to study free. Are you for or against that? Category label Code Count Percent FOR 1 1078 79.4 AGAINST 2 161 11.9 NO OPINION 3 104 7.7 MISSING 4 14 1.0 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 10c. Do you think some native students from Africa should, or should not, (also) be invited to study here free? Category label Code Count Percent YES, SHOULD 4 963 71.0 NO 5 227 16.7 NO OPINION 6 152 11.2 MISSING 7 15 1.1 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0 11. And finally, a question about Russia. Do you think the Western countries can continue to live peacefully with Russia - or do you think there's bound to be a major war sooner or later? Category label Code Count Percent PEACEFULLY 7 584 43.0 MAJOR WAR 8 440 32.4 UNDECIDED 9 333 24.5 ------- ----- Total responses 1357 100.0
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