Australians are divided over whether King Charles III should be the country’s head of state, with the latest Guardian Essential poll suggesting a 50-50 split between those who support the new UK monarch and those who do not.
The survey of 1,075 people, taken after Queen Elizabeth II’s death, gives little hope to the republican cause with fewer than half of the respondents (43%) supporting Australia becoming a republic – a figure that has barely moved over the past five years.
Over the same period, the number of people who oppose Australia becoming a republic has increased, with 37% now keen to keep the monarchy. That’s a three percentage point increase since June when support was last gauged, and seven percentage points higher than in 2017.
Support for a republic is far higher among male voters than female voters, with more than half of the men surveyed (52%) supporting an Australian republic compared with 35% of the women.
More young people support a republic than oppose one (51% to 24%), while those aged 35-54 are also more strongly in favour of the change than against (46% to 34%). But for those 55 and over, 51% are opposed to Australia becoming a republic, while support is at 34%.
The findings come as the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, attended Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral at Westminster Abbey overnight, and as the country prepares for a national day of mourning on Thursday to mark the end of the monarch’s 70-year reign.
Albanese has dismissed questions about the republic debate after the Queen’s death, insisting now is not the time for the discussion and ruling out a referendum in this term of government.
In a sign of the challenge ahead for achieving the “double majority” required for a change to the constitution – which is a national majority yes vote and a majority in at least four of six states – support does not increase above 50% in any state polled. Support is highest in Victoria (48%) and NSW (44%), followed by WA (43%), but falls to under 40% in Queensland (39%) and South Australia (27%).
As the Australian republican movement prepares to reignite its campaign for change following Thursday’s day of mourning, the poll suggests less enthusiasm for the monarchy when questions relate specifically to King Charles III.
When asked if King Charles III should be Australia’s head of state, voters were divided 50-50, with women, older voters and Coalition supporters more likely to back the new monarch.
Just under half of those surveyed (44%) gave the 73-year-old King a “positive rating”, compared to 71% who judged Queen Elizabeth II favourably and 63% who felt positively about Prince William. Only Prince Harry was less positively rated than King Charles at 42%– with both viewed negatively by about 20% of voters.
The new King’s positive rating is only slightly lower than that of Albanese, who is viewed positively by 46% of voters compared to 31% who gave a neutral rating and 17% who gave a negative rating.
The prime minister’s support is evenly spread among both sexes and all age groups – and is also steady across the states.
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For the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, only 23% gave him a positive rating – a three percentage point drop since August – which compares to 33% who felt negatively about him and 34% who were neutral.
Just one in five female voters viewed Dutton positively, while support fell to just 14% of young voters under the age of 35. Even among Coalition voters, only 41% ranked him positively and in Queensland this dropped to 24%.
By comparison, the US president, Joe Biden, has a positive rating of 30% and a negative rating of 28%, while the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has a positive rating of 9% and a negative rating among 77% of those polled.
Amid blanket coverage of the Queen’s death, the Essential survey, which has a margin of error of +/-3%, also asked people how interested they were in stories of the event, with 58% saying they were interested and 42% not interested.
Almost half (48%) said there was more information than was needed, while 42% said it was “about the right amount” and 10% wanted more.
Support for a public holiday for a national day of mourning and the prime minister’s decision to travel to UK for the funeral was strong (61% and 60% respectively) but fewer than half (38%) supported suspending parliament.