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Comparing the seven Aussie personas on education, age, income and voting habits

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Stereotypes are powerful because they're often rooted in truth - or at least, we like to think they are.

But new research into Australian attitudes and lifestyles suggests it may be time to rethink some of our most enduring stereotypes.

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What kind of Australian are you?

We asked thousands of people across Australia hundreds of questions, and used the answers to look for patterns. It turns out we are a divided bunch.

For example, who do you think is more concerned with saving money: the young or old? Who is most likely to splash out on fancy things: the person with only a high school education or the university graduate?

And who do you think is most likely to vote Labor: the social conservatives or the social progressive?

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If you thought you knew Australia, you might be surprised by some of the findings of the Political Personas Project, one of the most comprehensive attempts to examine Australians' lifestyles, politics and social values.

A joint project between Fairfax Media, the ANU's Social Research Centre and digital information analysts Kieskompas, it revealed seven types of Australians, representative of the seven most dominant patterns of thinking.

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Here's how the seven tribes from the Political Personas Project compare on age, education, income, housing, gender, location and voting habits.

Education

Progressive Cosmopolitans and Activist Egalitarians are the most likely to have university degrees. Ambitious Savers are also disproportionately likely to have a university education.

Lavish Mod-cons and Prudent Traditionalists are the least likely to have studied beyond high school.

Anti-establishment Firebrands are the most likely to be have trade qualifications. Disillusioned Pessimists are also over-represented in this group.

Income

Lavish Mod-cons are the wealthiest of the personas, making up 5 per cent of the population but nearly 18 per cent of those earning $156,000 or more a year.

Cosmopolitans also tend to be high earners. Cosmopolitans make up 18 per cent of the population but 30 per cent of Australians earning $91,000 to $155,999 a year. Among them, however, is a large group of Australians earning less than $15,600 a year. Cosmos make up about 22 per cent of people in this income bracket.

Ambitious Savers are almost evenly split between rich and poor, dominating the extremes when it comes to income. This tribe accounts for 10 per cent of the population but 14 per cent of those earning $104,000 or more, and 15 per cent of those earning less than $15,600.

Anti-establishment Firebrands are over-represented among upper-middle income earners ($65,000 to $90,999 a year), while Activist Egalitarians are over-represented among low income earners. Egalitarians make up 18 per cent of the population but 26 per cent of those earning $15,600 to $25,999 a year.

Prudent Traditionalists fare slightly better, making up 30 per cent of the population but about 35 per cent of those earning $15,600 to $41,599 a year.

Disillusioned Pessimists are half as likely to earn more than $91,000 a year but are fairly evenly spread through the lower and middle income bands.

Voting habits

The two tribes most concerned with money and spending - Lavish Mod-cons and Ambitious Savers - were also the most likely to vote Liberal.

Nearly 50 per cent of Lavish Mod-cons and 45 per cent of Ambitious Savers said they would vote for the Liberal Party if a federal election for the House of Representatives were held today, according to the survey.

For Labor, nearly half of their votes came from Prudent Traditionalists and Activist Egalitarians - tribes with different social values and attitudes to redistribution. Twenty-five per cent of Labor voters were Traditionalists and 23 per cent were Egalitarians, according to the survey.

However, Traditionalists were disproportionately likely to favour Labor, the figures showed, despite making up their largest support base. (They're Australia's biggest tribe, so they have votes to spread around.)

While the biggest share (35 per cent) support the Liberal Party, Traditionalists were far and away the most likely persona to vote for the National Party. Traditionalists make up 30 per cent of the population but 58 per cent of votes for the Nationals.

So, in fact, Labor's stronghold is the Egalitarian tribe, who make up less than 18 per cent of the population but 23 per cent of Labor voters. Cosmopolitans were also disproportionately likely to favour Labor, making up just over 18 per cent of the population but 21 per cent of Labor voters.

However, the figures also serve as a warning to Labor - these tribes also make up the largest share of Greens voters. Nearly 35 per cent of Greens voters are Egalitarians, and 30 per cent are Cosmopolitans.

Anti-establishment Firebrands were the most likely to vote for the minor parties, with 42 per cent saying they would choose a party other than Labor, Liberal, The Greens, Nationals are the Liberal National Party.

Disillusioned pessimists were twice as likely to vote Labor as Liberal, but were also disproportionately likely to support a minor party, with 22 per cent saying they would choose a party other than Labor, Liberal, The Greens, Nationals or the Liberal National Party.

Age

Progressive Cosmopolitans tend to be young. Nearly 30 per cent of Australians aged 18-24 years belong to this tribe - the largest share of any persona.

Notably, Savers have the youngest median age (37 years) of all the personas and young people are twice as likely as other age groups to belong to this tribe. Savers make up 10 per cent of the population but nearly 20 per cent of people aged 18 to 34.

The oldest persona is the Prudent Traditionalists, which has a median age of 59. This tribe makes up 30 per cent of the population but more than 40 per cent of Australians aged 65 or older.

Middle-aged Australians are disproportionately likely to be Anti-establishment Firebrands, but it's worth noting that all age groups from 25 years and older are fairly evenly represented in this tribe. The only age group significantly under-represented are 18 to 24-year-old, which make up only one per cent of this tribe.

Location

People in capital cities are twice as likely to be Cosmopolitans than people living elsewhere.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are Pessimists and Traditionalists, who tend to live in regional areas. People living outside capital cities are 50 per cent more likely than city dwellers to be Pessimists and 40 per cent more likely to be Traditionalists.

Egalitarians and Firebrands - perhaps contrary to expectation - are almost equally likely to live in capital cities as regional areas.

Housing

Homeowners who own outright are far and away the most likely to be Traditionalists, with nearly 42 per cent of homeowners belonging to this tribe.

Cosmopolitans and Savers are the least likely to own their homes outright, and the most likely to select "Other (boarding, living at home, etc.)" for their dwelling type. This makes sense, given these are also the two tribes most heavily dominated by young people. These two tribes are also more likely than the others to rent.

Gender

Firebrands and Lavish mod-cons are the most male-dominated tribes. Men are twice as likely as women to be Firebrands and 75 per cent more likely to be Lavish Mod-cons.

Egalitarians are the most female-dominated tribes. Women are 34 per cent more likely than men to belong to this tribe.