ANU builds social research capacity, finds decline in satisfaction with democracy

A new poll, released to mark a major boost to social research capacity at The Australian National University (ANU), has found Australians are growing more pessimistic about the future and that satisfaction with democracy has fallen gradually since 2007.

The poll also found overall confidence in parliament and the union movement remains low, but Australians have growing and strong confidence in institutions such as police, the defence forces and universities.

The special ANU-Social Research Centre (SRC) poll has been released to mark the launch of the new Australian Centre for Applied Social Research Methods (AusCen) at the ANU.

AusCen is an initiative of the ANU following the acquisition of renowned polling and research organisation the Social Research Centre by ANU Enterprise.

 Senior ANU staff at the launch.

The new centre will draw on the expertise of the Social Research Centre, combined with applied social research, social policy, health and education expertise from across ANU to enhance the University’s ability to contribute to understanding Australian community views, and to analyse, develop and inform public policy.

“The establishment of AusCen ensures ANU will build further on its already outstanding team of researchers and graduate students in social research methodology, applications and techniques,” said ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young AO.

“It also continues to fulfil the University’s mission of addressing topics of national importance. It is the embodiment of the purpose of our national university.”

The University has had a long-standing working relationship with the Social Research Centre, which has carried out social research for ANUpoll since it was established in 2008.

Social Research Centre Chief Executive Officer Darren Pennay said academics previously had relatively little involvement in developing social research methods in Australia.

“The creation of AusCen and the commercial alignment between AusCen and the Social Research Centre changes all of that. It is a giant win for the advancement of social research methods in this country, and fills a gap in the Australian social research landscape,” he said.

The special ANU-SRC poll of 1,388 people was conducted in late June and early July. It compared data going back to 2001, and replicates questions on governance from the first ANUpoll.

It found a decline in public opinion on politics and governance.

Only 56 per cent believed their vote made a difference, down from 70 per cent in 1996. An all-time low of only 43 per cent believed it made a difference who was in power.

The poll found Australians are more pessimistic than they were in 2008 at the start of the global financial crisis. In 2014, only 30 per cent believe their lives will be better in five years (37 per cent in 2008), while 34 per cent believe their lives will be worse (25 per cent in 2008).

Younger people are more optimistic. The poll found 44 per cent of 18 to 34 year olds believed their lives would be better in five years, compared to 23 per cent of those aged 55 or older.

The poll found confidence in federal parliament was running at six per cent in 2014, compared to 10 per cent in 2008 and just five per cent in 2001. Support for unions was also six per cent in 2014, compared three per cent in 2001.

Overall satisfaction with democracy was at 72 per cent, which was comparable with Germany, Japan and Canada, but lower than the United States (78 per cent) and Denmark (94 per cent).

Full details of the poll can be found here.