The contemporary Liberal Party generally advocates economic liberalism (see New Right). Historically, the party has supported a higher degree of economic protectionism and interventionism than it has in recent decades. However, from its foundation the party has identified itself as anti-socialist. Strong opposition to socialism and communism in Australia and abroad was one of its founding principles. The party's founder and longest-serving leader Robert Menzies envisaged that Australia's middle class would form its main constituency. 

Throughout their history, the Liberals have been in electoral terms largely the party of the middle class (whom Menzies, in the era of the party's formation called "The forgotten people"), though such class-based voting patterns are no longer as clear as they once were. In the 1970s a left-wing middle class emerged that no longer voted Liberal.[citation needed] One effect of this was the success of a breakaway party, the Australian Democrats, founded in 1977 by former Liberal minister Don Chipp and members of minor liberal parties; other members of the left-leaning section of the middle-class became Labor supporters.[citation needed] On the other hand, the Liberals have done increasingly well in recent years among socially conservative working-class voters.[citation needed]However the Liberal Party's key support base remains the upper-middle classes; 16 of the 20 richest federal electorates are held by the Liberals, most of which are safe seats. In country areas they either compete with or have a truce with the Nationals, depending on various factors. QUESTIONS:

Q1:
1. What is a defining characteristic of the Liberal Party?
2. What does the Liberal Party see itself as?
3. 
Q2:
1. What does the Liberal Party advocate?
2. What is the Liberal Party a champion of?
3. 
Q3:
1. Who is the founder of the Liberal Party?
2. Who created the Liberal Party?
3. 
Q4:
1. What are the founding principles of the Liberal Party?
2. What was the original idea of the Liberal Party?
3. 
Q5:
1. Who did the Liberal Party's founder imagine would be its base?
2. Who did the creator of the Liberal Party want as constituents?
3. 
Q6:
1. Who are the actual constituents of the Liberal Party?
2. Who are the members of the Liberal Party in reality?
3. 
Q7:
1. What socioeconomic group is referred to as the forgotten people?
2. What groups is designated as the forgotten people?
3. 
Q8:
1. What occurred during the 1970s?
2. What took place over the course of the 70s?
3. 
Q9:
1. What party did the left-wing middle class form?
2. What political party was created by leftists in the middle class?
3. 
Q10:
1. Who was the founder of the Australian Democrats?
2. Who created the Australian Democrat Party?
3. 
Q11:
1. In what year were the Australian Democrats founded?
2. What was the year of the Australian Democrats creation?
3. 
Q12:
1. How many federal electorates does the Liberal Party have?
2. What is the number of federal electorates possessed by the Liberal Party?
3. 
