Liberal electorates return more Yes votes than Labor

Australia voted yes to same-sex marriage, but a detailed breakdown of those votes has revealed some surprising information.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows that the majority of yes votes came from Liberal electorates rather than Labor.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australia’s 60 Liberal-held seats supported same-sex marriage 63.3 to 36.7 per cent.

In contrast, Labor electorates delivered a 61.7 to 38.9 per cent yes vote.

Labor was a staunch supporter of same-sex marriage throughout the campaign, while a number of senior Liberal party members threw their support behind the No vote.

Not even fierce No campaigner Tony Abbott could convince his electorate to side with him.

The former prime minister’s seat of Warringah delivered a whopping 75 per cent yes vote, far higher than the nation’s overall 61.6 per cent yes vote.

The ABS data also shows that over-60s had the highest response rate of any age demographic in the postal survey.

The highest number of respondents were those aged between 70-74, with 90 per cent of postal votes returned.

They were closely followed by those aged between 75-79 (89 per cent return rate), those aged between 65-69 (88 per cent return rate) and younger Boomers aged 60-64 (86 per cent return rate).

Those who returned the least amount of postal votes were aged 20-34 with 72 per cent of ballots ticked and returned.

The results are surprising given how vocal the younger generation was throughout the campaign.

The survey results also reveal that socio-economic status played a large role in whether you voted yes or no.

Across the country, electorates that delivered a majority yes vote had a high proportion of university graduates, while the opposite was found for majority no-vote electorates.

Where you happy with the survey results? Have you looked into how your electorate voted?