| Support for republic in free fall |
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| Written by Professor David Flint AM | ||||
| Thursday, 07 September 2006 | ||||
 According to a report by Melissa Kent in The West Australian of 8 September, 2006, republicans may have to rethink the theory that” the monarchists who spoilt their party back in 1999 will eventually die out.” According to the West’s major iGeneration survey of those aged 18 to 30, support for a republic among that crucial group, the young, is in free fall. When the West’s survey of youth attitudes was taken two years ago, 53% of young people indicated some support for change to a republic. This has dramatically fallen to a low of 38%. In addition, 71% wish to retain our Flag. There is no reason why these results would be much different across the nation. If a referendum on any republican model were to be held now, support among young voters would be likely to sink to a point well below the 38% recorded. I told Ms. Kent in Perth, where I was addressing a function of the West Australian Branch of ACM, that this was consistent with trends here and in Canada and New Zealand. “At the time of the referendum, republicans were saying we only have to wait for the older generation to drop off for the monarchists to die out. Clearly that is not going to be the case.” This result is also consistent with polling from the referendum campaign until the current time. The strongest support for change is in the “baby boomer” generation and then more in inner city electorates of the Melbourne Sydney Canberra triangle. So much for former senator, Susan Ryan’s observation, that it was only a matter of waiting until the elderly monarchists passed on, or the Hon. Nicola Roxon’s comment that no new monarchists are being born. [The survey was undertaken by Paterson Market Research for The West Australian from a sample of 500 selected by a two stage random selection process with a margin of error plus or minus 4.4%]
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