A special Roy Morgan survey taken in mid-December shows 44% of Australians think 2019 will be ‘better’ than 2018, 32% say 2019 will be ‘the same’, only 14% say 2019 will be ‘worse’ and 10% don’t know. Australians are far more positive about 2019 than they were a year ago when asked about 2018, when only 31% said 2018 would be ‘better’ than 2017, a record low:
Slightly more men (45%) than women (44%) expect 2019 will be ‘better’ than 2018, although there are also more men (19%) that say 2019 will be ‘worse’ than 2018 than women (10%):
Whereas Tasmanians and Western Australians are most hopeful for a better year:
The prospect for a change of government at the federal level seems to be driving much of the optimism:
“The first half of 2019 is set to be dominated by political discussions with a key New South Wales State election scheduled for late March and a Federal Election expected only a few weeks later in mid-May.
“The expectation for many is that Australia is set to see a change of Government at this year’s Federal Election with Bill Shorten becoming Australia’s third Prime Minister in under a year.”
However, Aussies are less hopeful than their Kiwi counterparts:
