Saying ‘No’ to MX

According to the Morgan Gallup poll the Hawke government's decision, in February 1985, not to help the United States monitor the testing of its MX missile, led to a massive if largely temporary decline in Labor's popular support, undermining support for the party in the States as well. The political importance of this polling was considerable. But an alternative reading of the evidence suggests that the impact of the decision was neither as great nor as widespread as Morgan and the media made out. The way in which the evidence was handled rather than the evidence itself put the government on the spot. In so far as the decision did undermine confidence in the government it was Labor's division more than its decision that did the damage

Economics · Government (linguistics · Missile · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Polling · Project commissioning · Publishing · Australian History and Society · Canadian Identity and History · Commonwealth, Australian Politics and Federalism · Computer Science · History · Law · Public Administration

• From social issues to social policy

  Open Access•T Rowse, Deborah Mitchell•Australian Journal of Social Issues•2005

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