Vote Compass helps Australians see where they stand on the political spectrum. Here's what the data shows
In the quick-shifting world of politics it can be difficult to figure out where you sit on the political spectrum — left, right or centre, but the ABC's Vote Compass is here to help.
After five weeks of campaigning, commitments, debates and discussion from politicians, we need to cast our ballot tomorrow. But which party stands where?
ABC Vote Compass helps visualise how your views on social and economic issues align with politicians and provides information about the candidates in your electorate.
More than 1.2 million people have used the tool this in election cycle.
It generally takes about 10 minutes to fill out the 30-question survey.
Vote Compass has been designed by political scientists at Canada-based Vox Pop Labs to help improve electoral awareness and start important conversations about public policy.
It makes it easy to compare your views, not just to the major parties, but to your friends and family, and start discussions about the big issues this election.
Election essentials:
Find out where your
What does your Vote Compass result mean?
On your results page, you'll see two graphs.
One is a plot on a two-dimensional graph that calculates your alignment on a social and economic scale.
Here's how to think about what the "compass" means:
If you're higher on the chart, your views on the included issues are more socially progressive. If you're lower, then you're more socially conservative
If you're on the left side, you're more aligned with the economic "left", while if you're on the right, you're on the economic "right"
Vote Compass uses your answers to calculate your alignment on a social and economic scale.
(
ABC News
)
The other plot will show the extent of your agreement and disagreement with the parties and candidates on the policy issues included in Vote Compass.
You can weight your results based on which issues you rank as more or less important.
Further down, you can explore how your answers compare question by question. Click on the party or candidate to see an explanation of their position.
If you've identified your electorate, you'll be shown a list of the candidates campaigning for your vote, as well as a link to
Vox Pop Labs founder Clifton van der Linden says the idea behind Vote Compass is to help people understand how they align with political parties on public policy.
"It is simply meant to help Australians have a sense that they are well-informed about the broad range of policy issues that are salient in this campaign and about the positions that the parties hold on those issues," he says.
Dr van der Linden says Vote Compass doesn't tell you how to vote or who to vote for, nor does it try to predict how people will vote.
Read more about the federal election:
Want even more? Here's where you can find all our 2025
Catch the latest interviews and in-depth coverage on
Cost of living rises to the top, housing dream harder to achieve
The responses to Vote Compass also provide an insight into attitudes on issues.
The cost of living came out on top as the most important issue for Vote Compass respondents, followed by the economy and finance and government operations.
The cost of living was also highlighted as a
About 45 per cent of Vote Compass respondents say they are finding it difficult to cope on their current income.
Vote Compass data shows 90 per cent of respondents think it is more difficult for young Australians to buy a house today than it was for previous generations.
This follows
In regards to solutions to the housing crisis, Vote Compass data shows 62.7 per cent of respondents said there should be more government intervention.
Almost 50 per cent of respondents agree there should be fewer tax breaks on investment properties while about 27 per cent disagree.
However, the data shows respondents are split on whether there should be other changes to tax policies.
About 43 per cent of respondents do not think the government should change its tax policies to discourage people from using housing as an investment while 36 per cent are in favour of changes.
This finding is from a weighted sample of 124,988 respondents.
Amid the housing crisis, migration levels have been a talking point during the campaign, but experts say migration is a small part of the puzzle.
The data shows roughly 49 per cent of about 340,000 respondents want "many fewer" or "somewhat fewer"
That's a significant change from 2022's Vote Compass results, in which 49 per cent of respondents said Australia should welcome "somewhat more" or "many more" immigrants.
Nuclear, young voters and the US factor
The ABC has been reporting on findings from Vote Compass findings throughout the campaign.
About 47 per cent of respondents said they strongly disagreed or somewhat disagreed
Vote Compass data suggests there has been a shift in views since the last election.
This year 36 per cent of respondents told Vote Compass much more should be done to reduce Australia's carbon emissions. That figure is down from 2022 when 61 per cent of participants said much more should be done.
This year gen Z and millennials will make up the largest voting bloc for the first time.
According to Vote Compass responses, the
The data shows 67 per cent of generation Z women identified as left or moderately left, compared to 52 per cent of women from other generations.
US President Donald Trump's tariffs announcement has meant the United States has featured throughout the campaign.
About 47 per cent of Vote Compass respondents believe
The Lowy Institute recently found Australians' trust in the US had dropped since Mr Trump's return to the White House, but Australians still
About Vote Compass data
Vote Compass is an educational tool designed to promote electoral literacy and civic engagement. While not a conventional public opinion poll, Vote Compass responses can be analysed using statistical methods similar to those used in polling to try to adjust for sampling bias.
Responses have been weighted by gender, age, education, language, religion, place of residence and past vote to account for the selection effects of the sample,
Loading
Having trouble seeing this form? Try
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News AU
3 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Trump advisor encourages Australia to further invest in defence to show US it takes threats to national security 'seriously'
A senior advisor to President Donald Trump has issued a warning to Australia over its defence spending, suggesting it needed to improve in order to strengthen its relationship with the United States. Sebastian Gorka, who serves as the deputy assistant to the president and the senior director for counterterrorism in the Trump administration discussed Australia's defence investment during an exclusive interview with Sharri Markson on Sky News on Wednesday. Australia's investment in defence has come under the spotlight in the past week, after it was highlighted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) that the government risks falling behind in its military preparedness amid rising global threats. In the report, former home affairs deputy secretary Mark Ablong concluded "the failure of this year's budget to meet that responsibility will make all Australians less secure". "Without urgent, coordinated and well resourced responses to those challenges, Australia risks a brittle and hollowed defence force, diminished industrial sovereignty, and compromised national security in a volatile Indo Pacific region," he wrote. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese brushed off the report, sticking by Labor's investment in defence, but the US has sent the message it is not satisfied with Australia's commitment. Mr Gorka said his relationship with Australian representatives had been positive so far, describing Australia as one of America's "closest partners in national security". "I think what (President Trump's) said to NATO nations, what he did in the first administration to get those who weren't paying enough into the collective defence alliance that is NATO and how he got them to do so speaks for itself. only been here for, what, four months. And I've had several meetings with our colleagues, our Australian counterterrorism, national security colleagues. It has been a delight," he said. However, he said Australia had to take national security seriously and the manner in which it responds to threats will determine how strong its relationship with the US will be. "I say to you what I say every nation. You are measured by how seriously you take the threats to your citizens, to your sovereignty. And if you wish to be understood as friends, as allies, and partners, that requires certain traits and certain behaviours to be met," Mr Gorka said. "Committing to your own defence so we are stronger together is clearly one of them So the people of Australia, the government they choose will decide the exact percentages of GDP, but I think the President will have an opinion when he meets with his Australian counterpart." Mr Gorka's comments come after US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth last week flagged Australia needed to lift its investment to about 3.5 per cent of GDP to his counterpart Defence Minister Richard Marles during a meeting in Singapore. The Deputy Prime Minister later said Mr Hegseth raised the issue of defence spending after the US had asked its NATO allies to raise their spending. "I wouldn't put a number on it. The need to increase defence spending is something that he definitely raised and you have seen the Americans in the way in which they have engaged with all of their friends and allies asking them to do more and we can completely understand why America would do that," he told ABC's Afternoon Briefing. "What I made clear is that this is a conversation that we are very willing to have and it is one that we are having already... but we want to make sure that we are contributing to the strategic moment that we all face. "We have done a lot already, but we are absolutely up for having this conversation and we want to calibrate our defence spending to meet the strategic moment that we all face."
ABC News
4 hours ago
- ABC News
7.30: Independent Nicolette Boele wins Bradfield on a paper-thin margin
ABC iview Home Watch all your favourite ABC programs on ABC iview. More from ABC We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.
The Advertiser
4 hours ago
- The Advertiser
State branded climate change capital as emissions swell
Official figures showing greenhouse gas emissions in WA increasing to near record levels confirm the state as Australia's climate change capital, a Greens MP says. WA emitted 89.37 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022/23, the latest available data shows, an annual increase of nearly four per cent on the previous year. The figures are in the National Inventory Report 2023, recently submitted to the UN climate change secretariat under reporting requirements of the Paris Agreement. The data, which spans 1989-2023, shows WA's highest emissions were 89.64Mt in 2009/10. Greens WA leader Brad Pettitt said it "reinforces what we already knew - Western Australia is the climate change capital of Australia". "WA's emissions have continued to rise under Labor in the critical decade for climate action, peaking again in 2023, almost 17 per cent above 2005 levels," he said. "The Cook Labor government have also dumped their commitment to legislate a pathway to net zero by 2050 - the absolute bare minimum - and continue to use Woodside talking points about WA gas helping to decarbonise Asia - talking points that have been proven to be false and misleading," Dr Pettitt said. Conservation Council of WA executive director Matt Roberts said it was "unfathomable" that Premier Roger Cook had indicated that he expected emissions to go up. He said that "folks are really fired up to try and express themselves in a way that they feel heard," about growing concerns over emissions. He was speaking after protests across the country on Wednesday targeting government MPs, as green groups pressure federal environment minister Murray Watt to consult the public and release the conditions of his approval to extend Woodside's North West Shelf gas project. The approval, announced on May 28, would allow Woodside to extend the project's life from 2030 to 2070, subject to conditions about the impact of air emission levels from the expanded onshore gas plant at Karratha in WA's northwest. Those conditions remain secret and a coalition of 80 groups and prominent individuals have written to Mr Watt demanding he publicly release them, and use his powers under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to allow the public to be consulted. Woodside still has to accept conditions around heritage and air quality at the project on WA's Burrup Peninsula, home to ancient rock art, before the approval is made official. On Wednesday morning, conservation councils coordinated protests against the approval at government and MP offices in all states and territories. Indigenous as well as non-Indigenous Australians "deserved to be heard" in light of recent information on climate, emissions and impacts from the facility on Murujuga rock art, Mr Roberts said. Campaigners fear the extension approval brings Woodside a step closer to tapping the Browse Basin gas field, a vast reserve beneath the pristine Scott Reef, north of Broome. "If the extension goes ahead, it will lock in polluting gas for decades to come, creating demand for new gas projects like Browse, bringing Woodside's toxic operations closer to Scott Reef, and setting back the clean energy transition in WA," Mr Roberts said. Official figures showing greenhouse gas emissions in WA increasing to near record levels confirm the state as Australia's climate change capital, a Greens MP says. WA emitted 89.37 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022/23, the latest available data shows, an annual increase of nearly four per cent on the previous year. The figures are in the National Inventory Report 2023, recently submitted to the UN climate change secretariat under reporting requirements of the Paris Agreement. The data, which spans 1989-2023, shows WA's highest emissions were 89.64Mt in 2009/10. Greens WA leader Brad Pettitt said it "reinforces what we already knew - Western Australia is the climate change capital of Australia". "WA's emissions have continued to rise under Labor in the critical decade for climate action, peaking again in 2023, almost 17 per cent above 2005 levels," he said. "The Cook Labor government have also dumped their commitment to legislate a pathway to net zero by 2050 - the absolute bare minimum - and continue to use Woodside talking points about WA gas helping to decarbonise Asia - talking points that have been proven to be false and misleading," Dr Pettitt said. Conservation Council of WA executive director Matt Roberts said it was "unfathomable" that Premier Roger Cook had indicated that he expected emissions to go up. He said that "folks are really fired up to try and express themselves in a way that they feel heard," about growing concerns over emissions. He was speaking after protests across the country on Wednesday targeting government MPs, as green groups pressure federal environment minister Murray Watt to consult the public and release the conditions of his approval to extend Woodside's North West Shelf gas project. The approval, announced on May 28, would allow Woodside to extend the project's life from 2030 to 2070, subject to conditions about the impact of air emission levels from the expanded onshore gas plant at Karratha in WA's northwest. Those conditions remain secret and a coalition of 80 groups and prominent individuals have written to Mr Watt demanding he publicly release them, and use his powers under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to allow the public to be consulted. Woodside still has to accept conditions around heritage and air quality at the project on WA's Burrup Peninsula, home to ancient rock art, before the approval is made official. On Wednesday morning, conservation councils coordinated protests against the approval at government and MP offices in all states and territories. Indigenous as well as non-Indigenous Australians "deserved to be heard" in light of recent information on climate, emissions and impacts from the facility on Murujuga rock art, Mr Roberts said. Campaigners fear the extension approval brings Woodside a step closer to tapping the Browse Basin gas field, a vast reserve beneath the pristine Scott Reef, north of Broome. "If the extension goes ahead, it will lock in polluting gas for decades to come, creating demand for new gas projects like Browse, bringing Woodside's toxic operations closer to Scott Reef, and setting back the clean energy transition in WA," Mr Roberts said. Official figures showing greenhouse gas emissions in WA increasing to near record levels confirm the state as Australia's climate change capital, a Greens MP says. WA emitted 89.37 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022/23, the latest available data shows, an annual increase of nearly four per cent on the previous year. The figures are in the National Inventory Report 2023, recently submitted to the UN climate change secretariat under reporting requirements of the Paris Agreement. The data, which spans 1989-2023, shows WA's highest emissions were 89.64Mt in 2009/10. Greens WA leader Brad Pettitt said it "reinforces what we already knew - Western Australia is the climate change capital of Australia". "WA's emissions have continued to rise under Labor in the critical decade for climate action, peaking again in 2023, almost 17 per cent above 2005 levels," he said. "The Cook Labor government have also dumped their commitment to legislate a pathway to net zero by 2050 - the absolute bare minimum - and continue to use Woodside talking points about WA gas helping to decarbonise Asia - talking points that have been proven to be false and misleading," Dr Pettitt said. Conservation Council of WA executive director Matt Roberts said it was "unfathomable" that Premier Roger Cook had indicated that he expected emissions to go up. He said that "folks are really fired up to try and express themselves in a way that they feel heard," about growing concerns over emissions. He was speaking after protests across the country on Wednesday targeting government MPs, as green groups pressure federal environment minister Murray Watt to consult the public and release the conditions of his approval to extend Woodside's North West Shelf gas project. The approval, announced on May 28, would allow Woodside to extend the project's life from 2030 to 2070, subject to conditions about the impact of air emission levels from the expanded onshore gas plant at Karratha in WA's northwest. Those conditions remain secret and a coalition of 80 groups and prominent individuals have written to Mr Watt demanding he publicly release them, and use his powers under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to allow the public to be consulted. Woodside still has to accept conditions around heritage and air quality at the project on WA's Burrup Peninsula, home to ancient rock art, before the approval is made official. On Wednesday morning, conservation councils coordinated protests against the approval at government and MP offices in all states and territories. Indigenous as well as non-Indigenous Australians "deserved to be heard" in light of recent information on climate, emissions and impacts from the facility on Murujuga rock art, Mr Roberts said. Campaigners fear the extension approval brings Woodside a step closer to tapping the Browse Basin gas field, a vast reserve beneath the pristine Scott Reef, north of Broome. "If the extension goes ahead, it will lock in polluting gas for decades to come, creating demand for new gas projects like Browse, bringing Woodside's toxic operations closer to Scott Reef, and setting back the clean energy transition in WA," Mr Roberts said. Official figures showing greenhouse gas emissions in WA increasing to near record levels confirm the state as Australia's climate change capital, a Greens MP says. WA emitted 89.37 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022/23, the latest available data shows, an annual increase of nearly four per cent on the previous year. The figures are in the National Inventory Report 2023, recently submitted to the UN climate change secretariat under reporting requirements of the Paris Agreement. The data, which spans 1989-2023, shows WA's highest emissions were 89.64Mt in 2009/10. Greens WA leader Brad Pettitt said it "reinforces what we already knew - Western Australia is the climate change capital of Australia". "WA's emissions have continued to rise under Labor in the critical decade for climate action, peaking again in 2023, almost 17 per cent above 2005 levels," he said. "The Cook Labor government have also dumped their commitment to legislate a pathway to net zero by 2050 - the absolute bare minimum - and continue to use Woodside talking points about WA gas helping to decarbonise Asia - talking points that have been proven to be false and misleading," Dr Pettitt said. Conservation Council of WA executive director Matt Roberts said it was "unfathomable" that Premier Roger Cook had indicated that he expected emissions to go up. He said that "folks are really fired up to try and express themselves in a way that they feel heard," about growing concerns over emissions. He was speaking after protests across the country on Wednesday targeting government MPs, as green groups pressure federal environment minister Murray Watt to consult the public and release the conditions of his approval to extend Woodside's North West Shelf gas project. The approval, announced on May 28, would allow Woodside to extend the project's life from 2030 to 2070, subject to conditions about the impact of air emission levels from the expanded onshore gas plant at Karratha in WA's northwest. Those conditions remain secret and a coalition of 80 groups and prominent individuals have written to Mr Watt demanding he publicly release them, and use his powers under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to allow the public to be consulted. Woodside still has to accept conditions around heritage and air quality at the project on WA's Burrup Peninsula, home to ancient rock art, before the approval is made official. On Wednesday morning, conservation councils coordinated protests against the approval at government and MP offices in all states and territories. Indigenous as well as non-Indigenous Australians "deserved to be heard" in light of recent information on climate, emissions and impacts from the facility on Murujuga rock art, Mr Roberts said. Campaigners fear the extension approval brings Woodside a step closer to tapping the Browse Basin gas field, a vast reserve beneath the pristine Scott Reef, north of Broome. "If the extension goes ahead, it will lock in polluting gas for decades to come, creating demand for new gas projects like Browse, bringing Woodside's toxic operations closer to Scott Reef, and setting back the clean energy transition in WA," Mr Roberts said.
