Only 12 per cent of young Australians didn’t vote in postal survey
Image: (PHOTO: David Alexander; Star Observer)
Only 12 per cent of Australians aged 25鈥�34 have not voted in the marriage equality survey, a new Galaxy poll shows.
An overwhelming majority of Australians still say they support marriage equality, with the latest poll, commissioned by Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) showing 66 per cent say they voted Yes.
The poll found 78 per cent of Australians do not want the Marriage Act amended in a way that treats same-sex couples differently from opposite-sex couples鈥攊ncluding 43 per cent of No voters.
鈥淭his poll couldn鈥檛 be clearer,鈥� said PFLAG spokesperson Shelley Argent.
鈥淎ustralians want marriage equality and we want it without any of the caveats and exemptions that will further entrench discrimination against same-sex couples.鈥�
Contradicting recent polls, an academic study suggests the survey outcome will be very close, predicting a narrow loss for the Yes vote.
The Griffith University study used advanced data techniques to analyse tweets, a method that has successfully predicted other outcomes such as last year鈥檚 US presidential election, has reported.
鈥淚t is likely to be a close-run result, much closer than the earlier polls suggested, and leaning in the direction of No,鈥� said the researchers.
Equality advocate Rodney Croome said there was still no room for complacency among people who want marriage equality.
鈥淚鈥檓 concerned that 25- to 34-year-olds have been less likely to return their ballots, given they are more likely to support marriage equality,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 vital that the Yes campaign do all it can to encourage young Australians to return their ballots in the last few days of the postal survey.鈥�
While the Australian Bureau of Statistics recommended votes be posted by last week to ensure they are definitely received, the survey does not close until November 7.
People in capital cities can still return their survey forms to drop-off .
Young people are just put simply lazy slobs and bums, who would not know a hard days work in their life and will not simply go and vote on a piece of paper and walk to the mailbox! That’s the problem people!
We’ve all been there Greg! I once failed to claim about a hundred bucks in wages for a days work when I was a fairly broke student because I kept putting it off. So if that’s not incentive then a postal ballot may evade even some well intentioned but fairly disorganised folks.
There is no reason they could not have included online responses to the survey other than to make life tougher for those who never use snail mail. If you want to stack things against the elderly you only use on-line options, if you want to stack them against millenniels then deny them an on-line option, as Finance Minister Corrman (a No voter) has done in this case.
The ABS will presumably be well placed to offer some breakdown of the participation in the survey after the result is released in a couple of weeks. I will be truly astonished if the Galaxy poll result is found to be true. A lot of 25-34 year olds travel, rent, share housing and have all sorts of challenges getting mail or staying enrolled.
If it’s true that 88 per cent have voted then that is huge and great for SSM. If it’s significantly lower then that’s the reason that the No vote will have a narrow (and therefore meaningless) win.