Only one in five Australians back Dutton’s Woolies boycott
Just 20% of Australians are behind Peter Dutton’s call to boycott Woolworths, after the supermarket reported it would no longer stock Australia Day specific products due to “a gradual decline in demand for Australia Day merchandise from our stores over recent years”.
Not surprisingly, a YouGov poll found that Australians are far more concerned about the price hikes being implemented by the supermarket, with two-thirds of respondents saying they care more about the perceived price gouging than the Australia Day issue.
Dutton’s claims that Woolworths is “peddling woke agendas” and “trying to cancel Australia Day” resonated with just one-fifth of Australians polled, although only 14% say they support the supermarket’s decision.
Even those who voted against the Voice Referendum last year weren’t buying the boycott. Just 29% of No voters supported Dutton, with 67% of them instead focused on grocery cost.
“Excessive price rises at supermarkets is the main concern for Australian voters,” explained Paul Smith, YouGov director of government.
“Our poll shows that Mr Dutton has picked the wrong focus with only one in five voters backing his boycott call. Even Liberals were twice as concerned with excessive pricing, as expressed by 61% of voters, with only 32% backing Dutton’s boycott.”
Despite the boycott being seen as overkill, close to half the population believes Australia Day should be kept on January 26.
The nature of the holiday is, however, changing. “Many Australians have a very relaxed, laid-back approach to the public holiday, with 41% of voters who claimed the most important thing about Australia Day was being able to enjoy a day off work,” the report reads, noting that 31% of Aussies say “participating in Australia Day events is still the most important part of the day.”
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Nathan Jolly is the Deputy Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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… much more than 1 in 5 backing Dutton in general.
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Despite all the ‘noise’, I will just shop with the supermarket that is most handy and don’t intend to get in the car and drive somewhere else. I don’t care…..
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Having an option “my main concern are excessive prices rises” skews the results of the poll.
One could argue that Duttons stance is more popular. Of those not focused on price gouging by supermarkets, 50% more people supported Dutton vs the ceo of woolworths.
Be better Yougov. Don’t set up polls to give an answer that suits your agenda.
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Does anyone know how Dutton gets away with blaming Albo for the current financial issues when the majority of them have been inherited from the three previous governments. Was his expectation to have close to a decade of regression fixed in under two years. I think the word is delusion.
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Dutton has the current government on the ropes so why would he choose to get involved publicly in what Woolworths do on 1 day out of 365. As polls suggest 80 % of the people want to know what is the “real ” cost of a weekly supermarket shop whether it be Woolies, Coles, Aldi or IGA. Just keep your mouth shut Peter and deal with real problems that we are facing.
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