Essential Research: coronavirus and attitudes to China

A major souring in Australians’ attitudes to China but little change on coronavirus (at least since last week), according to the latest Essential poll.

Another week, another Essential Research coronavirus poll — this one focusing on attitudes to China, which have notably soured. As related by The Guardian, respondents were asked if they had a favourable or unfavourable view of China’s influences on Australian life, which produced a net rating of minus 30% on trade, compared with plus 1% last August, and a net rating of minus 40% for Chinese business operating in Australia, down from minus 21%. There were also scores of minus 26% for defence, minus 36% for politics and minus 9% for culture. Conversely, the United States scored net positive scores, albeit that these were quite a lot bigger for defence (plus 29%), business (plus 15%) and trade (plus 14%) than politics (plus 2%) and culture (plus 7%).

Asked which relationship would be more beneficial to strengthen, 42% favoured the US and 18% China, compared with 38% and 28% last August. Respondents had two bob each way on trade in that 53% thought Australia “needs to do all it can to avoid a trade war with China”, with 17% opposed, but 48% felt Australia should impose retaliatory tariffs, with 22% opposed. The poll found “more than half” believe China’s trade sanctions against Australia were motivated by the government’s call for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19.

The poll continued its weekly suite of questions on coronavirus, recording no change on the government’s handling of the crisis, which was rated positively by 73% and negatively by 11%. Levels of concern little changed on last week (79% either very or quite concerned, down one, and 21% either not at all or not that concerned, up one). A divide appears to be opening on restrictions, with higher responses for both lifting them as soon as possible (up five to 14%) and holding off (up two to 27%). The poll was conducted Thursday to Sunday from a sample of 1087; a full report should be published later today.

Note that below this post is a dedicated thread for the Eden-Monaro by-election, which you are encouraged to use if you have something specific to say on that subject.

UPDATE: Full report here.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

2,091 comments on “Essential Research: coronavirus and attitudes to China”

Comments Page 34 of 42
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  1. So much for me thinking Daniel “Hard on Corona” Andrews’ public servants would be able to effectively manage the transfer of the lady who was in quarantine to SA. Another WTF?

  2. P1

    Yes the journalists on twitter are saying don’t rejoice lots of people are losing jobs and news coverage.

    When it comes to Newscorp I have no sympathy and with everyone losing jobs at the moment the inevitable revenue loss is best now while social security is generous not mean and punitive.

    Who knows some expert scribes experiencing it might just write about needing to end mutual obligations and shaming the unemployed

  3. @cmclymer tweets

    Aaron Sorkin writing Mark Zuckerberg as a power hungry, morally bankrupt sociopath in “The Social Network” is probably the best thing he ever did.

  6. Unable to afford fruit or the internet for kids’ homework: the reality of single motherhood in Australia

    The impact of cutting the new jobseeker payment by half – back to the old Newstart rate – would be brutal

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/28/unable-to-afford-fruit-or-the-internet-for-kids-homework-the-reality-of-single-motherhood-in-australia

    What is the cost of caring? Sadly, it still amounts to a great deal for women in Australia today, where far too many end up paying the price through a lifetime trapped in poverty.

    Disturbingly, in our wealthy country, 37% of single mothers and their children are living in poverty.

    Our new analysis with the University of New South Wales, released on Thursday, exposes the disproportionate impact of poverty on households in which women are the main income earners, including single-parent families. These households are twice as likely to live in poverty as those in which men are the main income earners (19% and 10%, respectively), with the gap even higher when you look just at households with children (at 23% and 10% respectively).

    This reflects the persistent fact that most caring work falls on women, and how hard it is to combine unpaid care and careers. With childcare usually so expensive, more women are employed part-time rather than full-time, and many with preschool-aged children are caring for them full-time. Even today, many women still have to depend on men’s earnings, and are a divorce or break-up away from poverty.

    The other reason is the low levels of income support available to families out of paid work. A single parent with two preschool-aged children relying fully on income support receives around $630 a week. That falls to $580 when the youngest child reaches eight years of age and the parent, almost always a mother, has to transfer to the lower jobseeker (formerly Newstart) payment.

  7. While there are economic, political and technological aspects to the death of dozens of regional print newspapers, there is also a significant social aspect.

    Arguably, the Virus speeded up a trend.

    The consequences are jobs lost in rural and regional areas, the enhanced centralization of news/political messaging/information control, the usual consequences of digital over print, and the loss of yet another smidge of community cohesion.

  8. The G @ 11:21 am re public service pay freeze

    Again, Queensland, which has a Labor government, has also done this.

    But election campaigning can bring out all sorts of grey zones – here is what Anthony Albanese had to say about the NSW public servant pay freeze today:

    Well, this is an outrageous slap in the face for those working people who’ve kept the economy and our society going during these difficult times. Our nurses, our police, our emergency service workers. They have put literally their own health on the line in order to support their community. And for a government to effectively have, bear in mind, a pay freeze is a real wage cut, is what the Berejiklian government is asking them to just accept, and it is unacceptable.

    And I say to Scott Morrison, don’t just give a speech at the National Press Club saying that you recognise that working people actually have a role in our society. Step in here, pick up the phone to the New South Wales premier, and talk to her about why this is unacceptable.

  9. The G

    Pressed by the WA Greens senator Rachel Siewert on whether jobkeeper would need to be extended, Lowe said: “If the labour market is not improving we will need to keep the fiscal support, some way or other.”

  10. bw

    Co Operatives. Can be run with a few journalists getting a Universal Basic Income. That includes good local investigative journalism.

    The end of Murdoch does not mean the end of regional news.

  11. frednk

    The footage of four policemen, three of them keeping anguished bystanders at bay while the fourth choked a suspect to death by way of kneeling on the suspect’s throat is interesting to say the least.

    What were they thinking?

    The suspect’s alleged crime was ‘forgery’.

  12. Gladys pretending that shanking NSW public servants was a difficult decision. Bullshit meter hits 100%.

    It is one of those fist pumping “YES!!” moments that Liberals live for.

  13. One of the good things to come out of the Virus is that the population fall has freed up tens of thousands of dwellings, increasing availability and affordability.

    I am sure that the Greens population plan (aka the so-called Green New Deal) will take into the account the impacts on biodiversity, costs of their unrestrained population policy on housing affordability especially for their kiddie astroturfing targets, on homelessness, and on the availability of housing for those fleeing domestic violence, on Indigenous families crammed 20 to a house, and on the poor more generally.

    Bandt should just announce a population target just as soon as he is finished with connecting with farmers, astroturfing the Adani kiddies, and announcing hundreds of billions in unfunded populist programs.

  14. A-E

    Berejiklian isn’t silly.

    She waited until they had finished risking their lives beating off the fires and the Virus before shafting them.

  16. So, two days after the ‘new Bob Hawke’ charted a new consensus way out of our covid-induced troubles…

    Christian Porter said the government would take legislation to Parliament “one way or the other” without insisting on a high level of agreement in five new working groups that will negotiate a new regime.

    I watched Scotty’s much-heralded NPC address. Anyone who thought at the time that it foreshadowed a new approach simply wasn’t paying attention.

    Scotty said

    we must move quickly. It will become apparent very quickly if progress is to be made. The working groups will either reach something approaching a consensus on issues or they won’t.

    and

    Ultimately it will be though the Government that will take forward a job making agenda from this process.

    and

    I’m hoping this process will achieve. It may succeed. It may fail.

    Does that sound like someone committed to achieving ground-breaking new consensus driven change? or, setting up for a narrative to blame others to justify what they want to do anyway: “we tried, they wouldn’t co-operate”?

    But what of Scotty’s grand gesture …

    in good faith we’ve decided that the government will not pursue a further vote in the Senate on its Ensuring Integrity Bill.

    It took only two paragraphs to get to …

    the government remains committed to ensuring the law breaking stops. We are committed to ensuring that this happens in the simplest, fairest and most effective statutory form possible, which we will consider going forward.

    It’s off the table … but I’ll have this new improved version back on the table, which is not the same at all….

    The only insightful question on the topic was from Probyn:

    One of the secrets of the accord was that the Hawke government greased the wheels with a social wage – Medicare, superannuation, higher family payments, childcare payments too. When you come to the table pushing for industrial relations reform, what are the sorts of things that you can offer the employees and the union movement?

    After some blah, blah about ‘record’ funding for all those things, we got…

    We do have a social security system which is the envy of the world. That is the product of the last 20 or 30 years and it’s something, I think, we will have an absolute commitment to maintaining.

    …”I think“… and

    unless we focus on the success of that business that is going to employ someone, then there’s nothing really to offer. Because there’s no economy to offer it from. And so that’s why we’ve got to get our priorities right…. if you don’t put businesses at the centre of that economy, you can’t make that pledge.

    He really does have nothing to offer.

    The ‘new Bob Hawke’ ? …. he’s not the bird poop on the sole of the late Bob Hawke’s shoe.

  17. Old Spoke

    Same old mental furniture. Same snap back to the Coalition mean. Same hatred for poor leaners. Same pupppy love for rich leaners.

    Plus ca change.

  18. boerwar @ #1664 Thursday, May 28th, 2020 – 12:24 pm

    A-E

    Berejiklian isn’t silly.

    She waited until they had finished risking their lives beating off the fires and the Virus before shafting them.

    As my son said, so if Gladys and Dom want to save money so badly, why did they give the Police Commissioner an $87000 a year raise just the other week?

  21. ‘Bucephalus says:
    Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 12:01 pm

    So much for me thinking Daniel “Hard on Corona” Andrews’ public servants would be able to effectively manage the transfer of the lady who was in quarantine to SA. Another WTF?’

    Marshall’s mob in SA cocked it up.

    Consistent with the Bludger ethos, you may now resile with grace.

  22. And don’t forget the outrage when Obama wore a tan suit

    155
    117
    538

    Steve Rustad
    @SteveRustad1
    ·
    4h
    The GOP blamed Obama when 4 Americans died in Benghazi.

    They were outraged about a death toll of 4.

    The pandemic death toll?

    99,000.

    The GOP response?

    Endless praise for Trump.

    Craven assholes.

  24. The pre Virus economy had the staggers. One reason was supine wage growth.

    It is hard to envisage Scotty from Marketing doing anything other than to try to throttle wage growth.

    Snap back on roids.

  25. spr

    Murdoch has been 100% consistent over a business lifetime when it has come to deploying technology to make more profits and to shed/shaft workers.

    He is not about to change now.

  26. Senator Murray Watt
    @MurrayWatt
    ·
    3m
    ASIC tells Senate #COVID19 Committee it is concerned that more people may turn to payday lending, once JobKeeper/JobSeeker support withdrawn in September. Morrison’s planned snap back will have consequences.

  27. bw

    Yes Always rememberMurdoch and his outlets are enemies of the worker.

    Never ever forget Wapping. The LNP trying to resurrect WorkChoices is more Murdoch IPA LNP ideology.

  29. @MikeCarlton tweets

    And another thing: hate to say it, but steer your kids away from a journalism or communications degree. There are more and better jobs available in astrology, necromancy and basket-weaving.

  30. As far as I understand Murdoch has shifted most of his wealth into Disney and Fox. He has about 3 billion worth of Newscorp but his power there is reliant on his preferential voting power, not actual share ownership.

    So you could conclude that Murdoch is keeping his hand in Newscorp for its political pull.

  32. Ryan Struyk‏Verified account @ryanstruyk

    Reported US coronavirus cases:

    Feb. 27: 60 cases
    Mar. 27: 101,242 cases
    Apr. 27: 988,189 cases
    May 27: 1, 745, 803 cases

    Reported US coronavirus deaths on date:

    Feb. 27: 0 deaths
    Mar. 27: 1,588 deaths
    Apr. 27: 56,255 deaths
    May 27: 102, 107 deaths

  33. nath

    Thats the basis on which we can celebrate Paul Murray. Andrew Bolt Rowan Dean losing their Newscorp jobs. No more false information about how working to decarbonise the economy is responding to a hoax and all the rest.

    I will cheer the demise of Sky News as a net benefit to society.

  34. Sprocket_
    The other option is improve the product to entice would be advertisers. What brand wants to be associated with an outfit that portrays itself as News Corp papers do.

    This will sound a bit snobby but if you want to be seen as an ordinary joe that lives in overhauls and only bets and watches mushy TV while shouting at the world then no wonder business doesn’t want to advertise and this same media outlet has campaigned for years against government advertising to now cry about lost advertising.

  37. Mexican

    There ain’t too many A/B demographics reading the Murdoch tits&bum tripe, garnished with crime, celebrity himbos and bimbos and RWNJ channeling US Trumpism.

    Only Harvey Norman advertising.

  39. I see the cartel of treachery had Minister Dutton on national radio today campaigning for the overthrow of the Victorian Govt.

    It seems the cartel of treachery has a daily roster for each of their members to adhere to.

  40. Sprocket_
    Exactly and the crime stories are half arsed because once there was an actual report and request for information and maybe with a photoshot of the alleged offender but today its basically a shallow story about a crime happened.

  41. Tragic and disgraceful event.

    Romina Ashrafi: outcry in Iran over so-called ‘honour killing’ of 14-year-old girl

    Police let teenager who ran away be taken back home by father despite her fears he would be violent

    Pleasantly surprised by the honesty of these comments from the Government.
    Maybe change can happen!

    Shahnaz Sajjadi, an aide to the president on human rights affairs, on Wednesday told the khabaronline.ir news website: “We should revise the idea that home is a safe place for children and women. Crimes that happen against women in society are less than those that happen in the homes.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/28/romina-ashrafi-outcry-in-iran-over-so-called-honour-killing-of-14-year-old-girl

  42. Scenes similar to the 1992 LA /Rodney King riots ….

    ‘Minneapolis is burning’: Shocking videos emerge as protesters seek justice for George Floyd

    Protesters and police clashed for a second night in Minneapolis as the former cop who killed George Floyd remains a free man.

    Photos and video from the scene show at least one business burning.

    https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/minneapolis-is-burning-shocking-videos-emerge-as-protesters-seek-justice-for-george-floyd/

  43. I know some really don’t seem to be able to survive for more than a day, or even a few hours, without some wankfest from the small loud cabal of pissants on PB. It doesn’t seem a healthy habit to me to even pay attention to such BS.

    For those sick of the tedious boers and their never ending and pathetic partisan BS and wilful ignorance

    You can find some actual relief with Adam Bandt and Richard Dennis discussing the Green New Deal and Australia’s future post Covid19. Another one of the many seminars and talks being run by the Australia Institute through the lockdown.

    Renewing Australia with a Green New Deal
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRc-_81Q6as

  44. I would love to see someone do a comparison of the current labor job placement services with a government run system. In particular the cost to the taxpayer.

    As the current system is incentivised by people being placed for 6 months it has led to workers being employed for that period only, at which point suddenly they are surplus and go back to the same provider to start the process all over again. There is a monetary reward for the job placement agency to destabilise the employees life for their own reward.

    If this work was done by public servants the incentive would be meeting KPI in respect to job placements, and satisfied job claimants and employers.

    The down side for the current government is it would screw with the stats showing the number of job placements because it wouldn’t be the same jobs endlessly recycled.

  45. I say, I say… Have we seen the new poll showing Sth Carolina Senate race neck and neck? Lindsey Graham won it by a wide margin last time – as you would expect in South Carolina, a state Trump won by 14pts.

    There have been some polls last year that the Democrat candidate, Harrison, was closing in but still far enough behind for Graham to relax. There have been reports that Harrison is raising more funds that Graham.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94VaLGzoPRo

  46. Assantdi
    The idea of a government run job placement isn’t needed because there are other ways to connect employers and job seekers than setting up a new business to complete against an existing industry.

  47. Mexican

    Yes it was called the Commonwealth Employment Service. Very good argument to stop the greedy private operators. “LaborHire” companies.

  48. Guytaur
    It is an outdated idea that ignores how today’s labour market works because employers already know they can go to centrelink and find out where job seekers are but they choose not to.

  49. Turns out that aerosols can also transmit Covid19.

    _______________________________________

    https://www.n-tv.de/wissen/Ubertragung-durch-Aerosole-rueckt-in-Fokus-article21803000.html

    (google translated)

    TELEXCHANGE
    MAY 27, 2020 11:39 min

    At a church service in Frankfurt, many people are believed to be infected with the corona virus despite distance rules and disinfectants. This puts a focus on a transmission path: aerosols. There is growing evidence that these could play a major role.

    More than 100 people contract the coronavirus in Frankfurt am Main after a church service two weeks ago. In Lower Saxony, at least 18 people become infected when visiting a restaurant in the Leer district. Both cases raise the question: Can you also become infected in closed rooms if distance rules are observed?

    Corona requirements may have been violated in the pub in Moormerland in the Leer district, where 14 guests were initially infected – according to Carola Reimann, Minister of Health of Lower Saxony, there had been shakes of hands and hugs. However, the free Baptist community in Frankfurt, which was also hit by a Corona outbreak, emphasized that the necessary distance had been maintained and disinfectants had been kept ready. However, the congregation admitted in a letter published on its website: “In retrospect, it would be appropriate for us to wear mouth-nose protection coverings during the service and to refrain from singing together.”

    Drosten looks at aerosols
    Germany’s most cited virologist Christian Drosten emphasized on Deutschlandfunk that in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus, greater attention should be paid to the finest suspended particles in the air – so-called aerosols . “In everyday life, you should perhaps concentrate on airing (? getting rid of air? ventilation? – Don) rather than constantly wiping and disinfecting,” said Drosten.

    The Charité scientist referred to scientific findings and said that the impression is increasing that in addition to droplet infection, there is a clear component of aerosol infections. “At some point, we may just need a major overhaul of our current guidelines based on new ideas about the infection mechanism.” To do this, one must now recognize that aerosol transmission plays an important role.

    Corona outbreak in Frankfurt
    Many believers tested positive after worship
    Many studies had already provided information on the risk of infection from aerosols in closed rooms. Researchers at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) found that people use speech to expel aerosols that can stay in the air for up to 14 minutes. The amount of particles also depended on the volume. A further study by early April showed that can be as capable of reproduction to three hours Sars-CoV-2 viruses detected in experimentally induced aerosols – however, these aerosols are fundamentally different from those coughing or sneezing Covid-19 patients in normal social Exposure handling.

    In late April, Nature published a study in which Chinese scientists analyzed air samples from two hospitals in Wuhan. The researchers were always able to detect aerosols with genetic information (RNA) from the virus, especially in samples taken in patient toilets or changing rooms of the staff.

    The case of a choir rehearsal in the US state of Washington published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also points to a presumably high risk of being infected by aerosols in closed rooms . A so-called superspreader of 60 other participants infected at least 32 within 2.5 hours . However, the singers could also have been infected by normal droplet infection, according to the study, for example, they were too close together or shared snacks.

    There was a similar case in Germany, about which the RBB reported. Accordingly, at least 32 participants from 74 choir members were tested positive for Covid-19 after a sample from the Berlin Cathedral Choir. The length of time in a room during the rehearsal “obviously made it irrelevant how far apart you are,” said choir director Tobias Brommann according to “Evangelisch.de” .

    Even if there is no scientific evidence for Covid-19 spread through aerosols, this seems to be very likely. Therefore, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is currently writing : “Even if a final assessment is difficult at this point in time, the previous studies indicate that Sars-CoV-2 viruses can also be transmitted via aerosols in society . ”

  50. Mexicanbeemer
    The current system is only working for the large companies that are making lots of money (taxpayer money) off the backs of people who are unemployed. It is my belief that taxes should be spent wisely and for public benefit not to give a massive financial benefit to large companies.

    As I said I would like an analysis to prove whether taxpayers are getting value for money or is it just another case of business is better than the public service that has never been held to scrutiny.

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