Less than a third of voters regard the return to a budget surplus as very important, despite the agony politicians put themselves through trying to achieve one.
The latest weekly Essential Research online poll found 40 per cent of respondents believe a surplus is "somewhat" important, while 14 per cent thought it is not very important.
As Treasurer Joe Hockey prepares his May 12 budget, the survey found just over half (52 per cent) of respondents are either "not very" or "at all" confident that he has an effective plan to eliminate the deficit, while 36 per cent are "very" or "somewhat" confident that he has.
The poll of 1021 respondents also found few people are expecting a surplus any time soon.
Forty-five per cent regard three to five years as a reasonable time frame to return a surplus, while 24 per cent are more generous with a six- to 10-year time span.
The treasurer should also be wary that 70 per cent of voters believe the gap between rich and poor Australians is getting wider, including 56 per cent of coalition voters.
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