Australian Election Study, 1990

The Australian Election Study 1990 is the second in the series initiated in 1987, and builds on the data collected earlier in the 1967 and 1979 Australian Political Attitudes Surveys. The series provides a long-term perspective on stability and change in the political attitudes and behaviour of the Australian electorate, and investigates the changing social bases of Australian politics as the economy and society modernise and change character. In addition to these long-term perspectives it examines the political issues prevalent in the election and assesses their importance for the election result. Two major themes are covered in the survey, the economy and the environment. Questions on the economy include retrospective and prospective evaluations of the country's economy and the individual's own personal household situation; wages and price controls; attitudes to particular economic issues; and the position of the major parties and party leaders on the main economic issues. Questions on the environment include attitudes to the protection of the environment and to environmental issues in general; the role of industry and the government in ensuring environmental protection; rankings of the most urgent environmental issues and the respondent's assessment of their likely future importance; and attitudes toward environmental pressure and interest groups, including current or likely membership. As in the 1987 AES, a range of questions are included in the survey which cover election issues and the respondent's assessment of the most effective party to handle them, as well as questions on specific political issues such as government spending and the pilots' dispute. A section on social policy includes questions on around 30 contemporary social and moral issues, including abortion, Aboriginal rights, pornography, health care and many others. A section on industrial policy focuses on attitudes towards the control of the economy, attitudes to trade unions and big business, and to industrial conflict in general. In addition to the standard questions on vote in the current election, recalled vote in the 1987 federal election, and party identification, the survey contains an extensive section dealing with attitudes to the major parties and to the party leaders. Finally, a range of demographic data are collected for each respondent and their spouse or partner, if applicable.