Morgan Poll
Roy Morgan Research
Gary Morgan
Michele Levine
ABIX-Roy Morgan Daily News Summary
Collins Street Gallery
Mapes and Ross
Morgans at 401
B2B Research
PitchPLANNER
International Interviewing
Telephone Interviewing
Target Mapping
Customer Satisfaction Awards
Morgan Target Mapping
Helix Personas
Single Source
Values Segments
Young Australians Survey
Segmentation Analytics
Technology Adoption Segments
Food Segments
Economic, Political and Social
Cross-Platform Audience
Telecommunications-Technology
Morgan Poll Review
Morgan Poll Releases
Federal Poll
NZ National Poll
State Poll
NZ Consumer Confidence
Morgan Poll Data Tables
Large majority of Australians support sending medical personnel to West Africa to fight Ebola
Share This Link on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Share on Reddit Email To Share on Whatsapp
Finding No. 5902
Topic: Public Opinion Special Poll
Finding No. 5902 – This special telephone Morgan Poll was conducted with a representative cross-section of 647 Australians on October 28-29, 2014. They were asked "The Australian Government has been asked by the US & UK Governments to provide Australian medical personnel to help fight the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. Do you think Australia should send Australian doctors and nurses to West Africa to fight the Ebola epidemic, or not?"
A special telephone Morgan Poll conducted over the last two nights shows a clear majority of Australians (70%) support Australia sending Australian doctors and nurses to West Africa to fight the Ebola epidemic and 23% do not support sending doctors and nurses while 7% could not say. Today's special telephone Morgan Poll was conducted with an Australia-wide cross-section of 647 Australians.
Analysis by Vote
Analysing the results by voting preference shows support for Australia sending Australian doctors and nurses to West Africa from all parties. Support is strongest amongst ALP voters (80% support cf. 14% against) and Greens voters (79% support cf. 17% against). This compares to a smaller majority of L-NP voters (58%) cf. approve (34%) in favour sending Australian doctors and nurses to West Africa.
Analysis by Gender
Analysis by gender shows a gender split with men heavily in support and women less so:
Men: Support (75%) cf. against (19%);
Women: Support (65%) cf. against (28%).
Analysis by Age
Analysing by age shows Australian of all ages show strong support with support weakest amongst Australians aged 65+ yrs old.
18-24yr olds: Support (69%) cf. against (24%);
65+yr olds: Support (55%) cf. against (35%).
Gary Morgan says:
"A clear majority (70%) of Australians support Australia sending doctors and nurses to West Africa to help fight the Ebola epidemic compared to only 23% that don't support sending Australian medical personnel to the countries that are dealing with the epidemic – most prominently Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
"A larger majority of men (75%) than women (65%) are in support of proposal, and there is support across all age groups, supporters of all political parties and also in every Australian State. When asked why Australians supported the idea respondents said it was important for Australia to help out the less fortunate, that it was a global issue we all needed to help out with, that it's better to treat the epidemic over there before it comes to Australia and that Australia is well-known for helping out around the world and we need to do so again."
Australians were asked (October 28-29, 2014): "The Australian Government has been asked by the US & UK Governments to provide Australian medical personnel to help fight the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. Do you think Australia should send Australian doctors and nurses to West Africa to help fight the Ebola epidemic, or not??"
Voting Preference
Can't say
State & City/ Country
Respondents were then asked "And why do you say that?"
Those who said 'Yes' mentioned that it's good to help out, other countries are helping and so should we, it's part of our duty of care to the world and also the danger that if we don't help out in West Africa Ebola might soon spread to Australia.
"Because it's a world thing, we should be looking after each other instead of thinking of ourselves."
"It's our duty of care to the world. If we don't stamp it out there, there's more chance of it spreading to more countries too."
"Because it's a global issue."
"It's a world-wide issue politically."
"It'll turn out to be a world problem if someone doesn't sort it out."
"If the doctors want to go then they should be able to."
"I think that any epidemic anywhere is everyone's problem, not just the people who live there."
"We've got to stop it at the source."
"We need to care for and help each other."
"If we have enough doctors, why not help out."
"I can't think of any good reason not to."
"Yes, but only if the doctors are volunteers."
"It is in everyone's interest to help over there."
"We need to protect ourselves."
"They're our allies. We need to help and they are helping us in return."
"I think it's humanitarian. Thousands of people dying, it should be our responsibility to help them overcome the epidemic in West Africa."
"It's kind of scary thinking that it's going to come to Australia and damage the community so we should go over there and help deal with it."
"It's a global scenario and I think it needs to be treated at the source."
"Our doctors are better trained and have a better understanding."
"Australia helps with everything and all the problems. Australia always helps and we should help."
"Only if they volunteer."
"Everyone deserves a chance."
Those who said 'No' mentioned the dangers of Ebola spreading to Australia when the medical personnel return, for the safety of our own people we should focus just on our own backyard and because we already have enough problems here to deal with.
"It's too risky for our medical personnel."
"They are putting themselves in danger."
"We don't need that disease in our country."
"I don't want it to come to Australia at all."
"For the safety of our own people. We don't quarantine people when they come back do we?"
"It's easier to spread to Australia if they come back."
"It is under control now, as in nothing has come back here, so why put them at risk?"
"They're more important here in our country. Lots of unwell families which need extra help to look after them."
"The ability to control something that far away from Australia is very difficult."
"It could make it difficult for them coming back to Australia."
"Ebola is highly contagious."
Cover image: Flickr / CDC Global.
Gary Morgan:
Michele Levine:
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. The following table gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. The figures are approximate and for general guidance only, and assume a simple random sample. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
Percentage Estimate
25% or 75%
5% or 95%
Recent Findings
Roy Morgan Indonesian Consumer Confidence virtually unchanged in April (149.9, down 0.7pts)
Roy Morgan Indonesian Consumer Confidence virtually unchanged in May (149.7, down 0.2pts)
ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence falls further - down 0.6pts to 115.2
Business Confidence surges in June – up 6.8% to 119.5 prior to Federal Election
Business Confidence plunges in May – down 9.1% to 111.9 following Federal Budget and Election uncertainty
Turnbull leads Shorten as 'Better PM'; but no way back for former PM Tony Abbott
Related Findings
L-NP gains ground on ALP after Abbott threatens to 'shirt-front' Putin at G ...
In mid-October L-NP support rose to 48% (up 1%) but still trails the ALP 52% (down 1%) on a two-party preferred basis. If an election had been held the ALP would have won in a close election according to this week's Morga...
Coalition well ahead in NSW but Queensland too close to call
A special SMS Morgan Poll on State voting intention conducted over four days (October 24-27, 2014) with a representative cross-section of 6,370 Australian electors around Australia shows the Coalition leads strongly in NSW: L-N...
ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Hits Twelve Week High
ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rebounded 2.7% to 114.6 in the week ending October 26 to the highest level in twelve weeks. We expect the improvement was supported by the rally in stock-markets last week and reduced volatili...
Bold cover choice pays off for the Australian Women's Weekly
With burns survivor Turia Pitt on its cover, the Australian Women's Weekly has scored its most-read issue so far this year, reaching 2.2 million Australians.
Electorate Reports
These profiles contains data that can help you understand your audience in terms of demographics, their attitudes to various important issues, how they spend their leisure time and what media they use and far more.
Roy Morgan
The Reactor (the original Worm) is an effective, proven methodology for measuring emotive (virtually unconscious) reactions to ads and concepts, element by element, second by second. It has been proven with thousands of ad tests worldwide over more than 20 years.
Latest in Store
State of the Nation 29 - Spotlight on Election 2019
Interviewer Login
Roy Morgan gives you the power of the world's best market research data in ready-made reports and profiles with latest research statistics, information and news. This includes consumer satisfaction reports, customer profiles and industry reports relevant to your target audience.
Tonic House,
386 Flinders Lane,
Australia, VIC 3000