factors that affect the success of referendums

Question 1

what is bipartisan support?

Answer 1

is the support of two or more parties before a referendum.
if the opposition party does not support the proposal they will lead a ‘no’ campaign against it.

Question 2

whether voters are seeking change?

Answer 2

one factor that can impact the success of a referendum is whether people themselves support and actively promote the change.

if the people are driving the change they will likely vote ‘yes’

due to a general distrust of politicians, voters will tend to maintain the status quo.

Question 3

nature of the proposal?

Answer 3

if the proposal is straightforward and accessible for everyone to understand it is more likely to be successful.
e.g. a referendum that had 4 proposals including enshrining the right to vote in the constitution was held. because the nature of the proposal was complicated the people had trouble understanding.

Question 4

education about the proposal

Answer 4

not likely to see the australian constitution is the media = public little knowledge about its content.

makes it difficult for voters when they are asked to consider changes for something they don’t know about

but if a referendum has media attention people can made an educated decision, but the existence of social media can spead misinformation confusing voters