The less successful a business is the more likely it is to criticise the government, according to a new survey.

A Roy Morgan Research survey of 3,449 Australian businesses found that 58% of respondents thought the Federal government had done a "very poor" job of helping them grow in 2012-13.

However, 67% of the businesses that performed below forecast called the government "very poor" compared to 54% who performed above forecast.

Only 6% of all respondents rated the government's performance as "very good", while 29% said it was "average".

The survey also found that 13% of businesses exceeded their financial targets, 44% were on target and 38% were under target.

Roy Morgan also reported that there had been "tentative signs" of an improvement in business confidence before the election, "most likely as a result of the anticipation of a change of government".

[LinkedIn: Is the government doing enough to support the industry?]

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