One in two voters largely indifferent on Julian Assange

The plight of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange appears less than top-of-mind for most Australians, with just under half of those polled by this week’s Essential poll saying they don’t know whether or not the Australian government has been providing appropriate support.

Those who do not vote for the three major parties were the most likely to say the government has not provided appropriate support to Assange — 36% of such voters said insufficient support had been provided. Labor voters were the next most likely to indicate that the government should have more proactively been on Assange’s case, followed by Greens voters on 30%. Only one in five Liberal voters (19%) disapproved of the government’s approach towards Assange, with 36% saying the support provided had been “appropriate”.

Question asked: Do you think the Australian government has provided appropriate support to Assange given he faces investigation for sexual assault in Sweden and possible extradition to the US?

The figures are somewhat contradictory on how attitudes have changed since the question was last asked in July 2012. A higher number of respondents now say the support provided to Assange has not been sufficient. But a greater proportion of voters also choose to answer “Don’t Know”, indicating apathy or a lack of information about the issue.