Everyone has an opinion. You can stop most conversations there, and not even bother getting to the subject. Whatever the topic, most people will have some opinion, or quickly reach one, when asked. And when people are asked their opinion about "what is the most important issue facing Australia" – without being offered a set of topics to select from – it is fascinating to see the answers they come up with.
Coalition voters, for example, most commonly suggest the economy is the country's most pressing concern. Defence or national security challenges are the second most regularly nominated topic, while a cluster of problems around what can be called "quality of government" follow closely behind.
Across the political spectrum, voters are often in broad agreement when it comes to the key issues.
For all the talk about polarisation in political debates, Labor voters are not so different. The economy is still the first important issue to spring to mind, although challenges relating to quality of government are typically nominated ahead of national security matters.
People who vote independent or for minor parties tend to refer to the same top three important issues for Australia; only Greens voters diverge, still nominating the economy, but preferring to address environmental threats first and also improving the treatment of asylum seekers.
Such attitudes emerge from the latest Mapping Social Cohesion survey by researchers at Monash University. This detailed poll, conducted most years for more than a decade, charts the contours of changing opinions over time, rather than a single snapshot at a particular moment.
The findings are especially valuable as a reference point at a time when opinion polls and surveys are somewhat on the nose. Polls have failed to anticipate the outcome in the context of the US presidential election and Britain's referendum on membership of the European Union – and the interpretation of poll results has become intensely contested.
Any community is complex and difficult to describe. It was Malcolm Turnbull's aim, when taking over as prime minister from Tony Abbott, not to shy away from complexity, but to engage intelligently with the community rather than merely parrot simplistic slogans. Whether Mr Turnbull has succeeded is – again – a matter of personal opinion. But it is nonetheless useful to judge his efforts against community attitudes, and polls, though imperfect, do offer an insight.
What is telling from the Monash survey is how out of step the major parties remain with prevailing community sentiment on social questions. An overwhelming majority, about 83 per cent of people, support legalising the medicinal use of marijuana to treat pain. A similar majority would agree doctors should be permitted to grant a wish for euthanasia for people suffering terminal illnesses. Yet despite such high levels of community support, the topics remain virtual political taboos.
Even on topics where debate has been endless, politicians appear unwilling to act in line with community expectations. A large majority of Australians, about 67 per cent, support same sex marriage, for example, yet any change to bring about marriage equality remains stymied. About 70 per cent backed "legislation for reduced reliance on coal for electricity generation", but the political will to support alternative energy sources has been tepid, at best.
The researchers speculate whether such failures to act have contributed to a disturbing decline in trust in the political system. You can bet everyone will have an opinion. But whatever the view, there should be some comfort in knowing that despite all the heat and argument, we are perhaps closer to agreement than you might believe.