Wide support for indigenous recognition in Australian constitution: poll

There is wide support for indigenous recognition in the Australian Constitution, according to a poll by an advocacy group released on Monday.

Advocacy group Recognize wants a preamble to the constitution which notes the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders contribution to the country.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott wishes to hold a referendum in 2017, the 50th anniversary of a successful vote that removed many discriminatory references to Aboriginal people.

For the referendum to be carried, it needs a double majority, national majority of voters in the states and territories and a majority of voters in four of the six states.

In the 2011 census, 3 percent of the population, 669,900 people, identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

Recognize hopes the results of its poll of 2700 Australians, which showed 75 percent would back a yes vote, will spur the conservative prime minister and other politicians to move towards change.

"The research findings should give confidence to leaders as they seek agreement on the model to be put to voters. It confirms the electorate is strongly prepared to back this change," Tanya Hosch, joint campaign director for Recognize, said on Monday.

Hosch said despite conservative voters traditionally being less likely to support constitution changes, 67 percent of Coalition voters would back the changes.

Rural voters were more likely than those in urban areas to support the change, while 6 in 7 indigenous people said they would vote yes if the referendum was held now.

The wording of the referendum question has not yet be decided upon.

Aboriginal people were noted in official population counts until the 1967 referendum. Queensland Aborigines were the last to gain the right to vote in 1965. Endi