Conducted with a stratified systematic random sample of electors, this dataset consists of survey responses to the 2004 Australian Election Study. Electors surveyed were drawn from the Commonwealth Electoral Roll by the Australian Electoral Commission following the close of rolls for the 2004 election (September, 2004). Name and address information only were supplied, to be used only for the 2004 study. Mode of data collection: self-completion (mail out, mail back). Type of file = NSDstat.

The 2004 Australian Election Study survey is the seventh in a series of surveys (beginning in 1987) that were timed to coincide with Australian Federal elections. As well as a long-term perspective on stability and change in the political attitudes and behaviour of the Australian electorate, the Study also investigated the changing social bases of Australian politics as the economy and society modernised and changed character. In addition to these long-term goals the surveys examined the political issues prevalent in the election and assessed their importance for the election result.

The survey covers the respondent's interest in the election campaign and politics, their past and present political affiliation, evaluation of parties and candidates, alignment with parties on various election issues, evaluation of the current economic situation, attitudes to a range of election issues including immigration, refugees and asylum seekers, terrorism, taxation, unemployment, and workers entitlements, attitudes to issues relating to the environment and defence, assessment of the current level of racial prejudice operating in Australia at the time, and opinions on various social policy issues including abortion, equal opportunities, sex discrimination, and government assistance to Aborigines. Background variables include level of education, employment status, occupation, type of employer, position at workplace, trade union membership, sex, age, own and parents' country of birth, parents' political preferences, religion, marital status, income, and where applicable, the occupation, trade union membership and political preference of the respondent's spouse.

The data collection process was administered by Professor Clive Bean, Dr David Gow and Professor Ian McAllister.

Survey data may be accessed in a variety of data formats, including SPSS, Stata, DBase, Textfile and NSDstat.