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The 1951 referendum campaign to ban communism produced a massive shift of public opinion, from Yes to No. This article attempts to explain why. It examines the political appeals and rhetoric of the Liberal and Labor Party leaders, their coverage across the entire metropolitan press, and their use of radio. Breaking with earlier interpretations, it argues that Evatt's campaign encompassed wider issues than civil liberties, suggests that Menzies' campaign was damaged by unruly meetings and shows that neither side appealed exclusively to ‘reason’ or to ‘passion’. Ultimately, the success of the No campaign rested on its capacity to mobilise most Labor voters and to attract some Liberals. This was an extraordinary achievement, but it was secured using routine forms of electioneering. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the influence of U.S. journalism on the press in Australia during the later 20th century. In particular, the use by the Australian news media of the Gallup poll as a gauge of public opinion is discussed. Specific topics discussed include: the first Australian Gallup poll, conducted in 1941 by the "Melbourne Herald" newspaper; public reaction to the poll; anti-American sentiment and perceptions of the Americanization of Australian politics; and changes in the Australian approach to opinion polling.

Examines the conceptual difficulties and empirical realities politicians, public policy and poll following. Overview of the importance of public opinion to political parties; Impact of basing political strategies either too much or too little on public opinion; Relationship between polls and democracy; Influence of public opinion on the platforms of political leaders in Australia.

Long gone are the days when the survey research community might have heeded scholar Alasdair Maclntyre's warning, in an essay on whether a science of comparative politics was possible, about the difficulties of `comparing attitudes independently of institutions and practices'; of the dangers, for example, of assuming that when one asks Italian, German, and English respondents to say nothing of Algerian, Jordanian, and Russian respondents about the pride they take in their governments, the concept of `pride' is one for which there is a shared, cross-cultural, understanding. Before the war in Iraq and after the fall of the regime, news media and polling organizations in North America, Britain, and Europe coordinated public opinion surveys on the war and related issues across various parts of the globe North and South, East and West though with a heavy bias towards the 39 `older democracies' and an even heavier bias away from the 62 `non-democracies', the number of countries chosen from the 43 newer democracies and 47 semidemocracies' falling somewhere in between.

Over the last few years, questions in the Australian polls about the rate of immigration and the rate of Asian immigration have generated a remarkably wide range of response. While most of the polls conducted since 1984 suggest majority opposition to the rate at which immigrants, including Asian immigrants, have been coming to Australia, other polls suggest majority support. Differences between the 1984 poll figures and some of the more recent polls may reflect changes over time. Other polled differences almost certainly reflect differences in the way the questions were worded. However, the most remarkable if least obvious cause of the difference seems to be the contexts in which the questions were asked; more precisely, differences in the length and focus of the various questionnaires in which questions on immigration were embedded. Public opinion on the rate of immigration is not only `soft', it is created in the very attempt to measure it. Under these circumstances there is little point in trying to isolate `majority opinion' or in attempting to establish which of the polis provides the most accurate reading. Where different readings are a product of differing contexts they may be best understood in terms of competing conceptions of what `public opinion' itself is all about. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the impact of Australian Member of Parliament Pauline Hanson on public opinion. Distinction between the mobilization of opinion around particular issues and the distribution of opinion on such issues; Reaction to Hanson's controversial views on Asian immigration and Aboriginal support; Hanson's plan to establish her own political party; Political consequences of a polled opinion.