Data gathered from the ABC's Vote Compass tool by university researchers has suggested what many of us already assumed to be true—the vast majority of Australians support marriage equality. In fact, of the 150 electorates in the country, there's only one where a majority of voters don't support same sex marriage: Maranoa, in rural Queensland.The massive outback electorate is a longtime conservative stronghold, which has been represented by the Nationals since 1943—the current member is David Littleproud. But even in Maranoa, the electorate that's most set against marriage equality in the whole country, locals who oppose a change in legislation to allow same-sex marriage only number just over 50 percent.The margin is tight on this issue in a few seats across Queensland and New South Wales, including Barnaby Joyce's seat in New England and Bob Katter's seat in Kennedy. But for the most part the data shows a clear majority of Australians would be happy for same-sex marriage to be legalised.So where is support strongest? The members of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's electorate of Wentworth are some of the biggest fans of marriage equality in the country, as are those in Labor deputy Tanya Plibersek's seat of Sydney, and Adam Bandt's Green seat of Melbourne.Other seats where support for marriage equality was overwhelmingly strong include Grayndler, Melbourne Ports, Wills, Gellibrand, Batman, Higgins, and Brisbane."Based on our data and other polling, it appears a plebiscite would pass easily," Shaun Ratcliff, one of the researchers who led the study, told the Sydney Morning Herald.Indeed, the comprehensive set of voter data does suggest that a plebiscite—which, at great expense, will poll Australia on this very issue—is perhaps unnecessary. It would appear we already know how Australians feel about same-sex marriage, and the margin isn't close enough to force us to the polls.On the other hand, the Coalition scraped an election victory this year with a marriage equality plebiscite central to its policy platform. However, this doesn't mean there's been a massive swing on the issue since the election. While this data shows a majority of Australians support marriage equality, it could be the case some voted on the idea that a plebiscite was the only way to get legislative change through a combative Parliament—coupled with opponents living in marginal electorates.Meanwhile, both Labor and the Greens will introduce marriage equality legislation into Parliament in a bid to avoid a plebiscite, which they argue would be costly and ideologically divisive (see: Bill Leak). Labor has said it won't support the Coalition's plebiscite bill; however, shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus will be meeting with Attorney-General George Brandis on Monday to discuss the vote—with some concerned this may signal a compromise is on the cards.Brandis told Fairfax on Monday that a plebiscite is the only way forward for marriage equality in Australia—warning if Labor is not willing to negotiate with the Coalition, the Marriage Act would not be changed in this decade.Follow Kat on Twitter
Advertisement