15 Will apartments create political change? The McCrindle survey of apartment and house dwellers asked a number of questions around future expectations and preferences for future housing types. While current apartment dwellers were more supportive of the development of more apartments in future years, there were a number of detached house dwellers who would consider apartment living in the future. IF THE FEDERAL ELECTION FOR THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WAS HELD TODAY WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WOULD YOU VOTE FOR? The answers to the above question on political leanings can also be analysed through the five household groups that have been identified as apartment dwellers. The Vertical Couples seem very supportive of Labor (52%) while the Cosmo Couples seem more supportive of the Coalition (36%). One-Parent families are supportive of Labor (42%) and of the Greens (22%). AS THE NUMBER OF APARTMENTS INCREASES IN URBAN ELECTORATES THE VOTING PREFERENCES COULD CHANGE. ALL POLITICAL PARTIES WILL NEED TO MONITOR THESE CHANGES. There are 16 state government seats in Metropolitan Sydney that would need a swing of less than 10% to change from the current sitting member. These include East Hills, Granville, Coogee, Prospect, Penrith, and Holsworthy. It will become increasingly important as metropolitan Sydney swings towards apartment living that the traditional door knock approach to meeting voters is replaced by more sophisticated methods of understanding voter preferences. It is much harder to door knock an apartment building with its secure lobby and this may be leading to a misunderstanding of the attitudes of apartment dwellers. As the McCrindle research has found, apartment dwellers are highly engaged, socially minded and more focused on lifestyle than accumulating wealth. The apartment lifestyle is more about cooperative consumption where amenities and spaces are shared and the surrounding urban precinct adds to the lifestyle. Two very interesting trends in our research are the growing number of families now living in apartments and the fact that 46% of apartment dwellers are Gen Z and Gen Y (aged 18 to 37). It is these younger generations who seem to be thinking differently about society and they are the group that will mature into an urban environment that will be dominated by urban apartment living. If the federal election for the house of representatives was held today, which one of the following would you vote for? If uncommitted, to which one of these do you have a leaning? If the Federal Election for the House of Representatives was held today, which of the following would you vote for? POLITICAL PREFERENCES: DWELLING TYPES POLITICAL PREFERENCES: HOUSEHOLD TYPES High density housing Low density housing KEY Labor (ALP) Coalition Greens One Nation Other 30% 30% 40% 37% 13% 10% 6% 12% 29% 82% Vertical families Solo metropolites Group households Cosmo couples One-parent families KEY Labor (ALP) Coalition Greens One Nation Other 52% 33% 40% 42% 39% 23% 36% 30% 24% 31% 13% 12% 12% 22% 17% 4% 7% 6% 2% 5% 8% 12% 12% 10% 8%