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  • Jun, 2010

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    Best Leader – Rudd/Gillard

    Q7. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat 15 Feb 10
    Kevin Rudd 36% 56% 26% 45%
    Julia Gillard 33% 30% 36% 26%
    Don’t know 31% 14% 38% 29%

    Respondents were fairly evenly split over whether Kevin Rudd (36%) or Julia Gillard (33%) would make the better Prime Minister. This is a substantial change since this question was last asked in February – Julia Gillard up 7% and Kevin Rudd down 9%.

    Labor voters preferred Kevin Rudd (56% to 30%) and Liberal voters preferred Julia Gillard (36% to 26%). Greens voters preferred Julia Gillard by 62% to 18%.

    Men show greater support for Kevin Rudd (40%/33%) whereas women were evenly divided (32%/34%). Comments »

  • May, 2010

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    Approval of the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd

    Q. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Kevin Rudd is doing as Prime Minister?

      30 Mar 09 29 Jun 09 28 Sept 09 30 Nov 09 14 Dec 09 18 Jan 10 22 Feb 10 29 Mar 10 3 May 10 31 May 10
    Strongly approve 21% 14% 15% 9% 10% 11% 11% 12% 8% 7%
    Approve 50% 48% 51% 47% 47% 44% 41% 41% 38% 34%
    Disapprove 14% 18% 17% 20% 20% 19% 20% 22% 25% 25%
    Strongly disapprove 7% 9% 6% 15% 12% 14% 17% 14% 17% 22%
    Don’t know 9% 11% 11% 10% 10% 12% 11% 12% 12% 12%
    Total approve 71% 62% 66% 56% 57% 55% 52% 53% 46% 41%
    Total disapprove 21% 29% 23% 35% 32% 33% 37% 36% 42% 47%

     Kevin Rudd’s net approval rating has fallen to a net negative for the first time since he became Prime Minister. 41% approve (down 5%) of the job Kevin Rudd is doing as Prime Minister and 47% disapprove (up 5%).

     89% of Labor voters approve and 87% of Liberal/National voters disapprove. Greens voters are split 48% approve/45% disapprove.

     Younger people are more likely to approve of Kevin Rudd’s performance than older people. Those aged under 35 were net positive (45% approve/33% disapprove) and those aged 55+ strongly negative (31% approve/64% disapprove). Comments »

  • May, 2010

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    Opinion of Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party

    Opinion of Kevin Rudd an the Labor Party

     Q. Would you say that your view of Kevin Rudd and the Labor Government has become more or less favourable in recent weeks? 

    Total more favourable 11%
    Total less favourable 58%
    Much more favourable 3%
    A little more favourable 8%
    A little less favourable 25%
    Much less favourable 33%
    No change 26%
    Don’t know 3%

    58% of respondents said their view of Kevin Rudd and the Labor Government had become less favourable over recent weeks and 11% said they had become more favourable.

    22% of Labor voters said they had become more favourable and 31% less favourable. Coalition voters split 4% more favourable/81% less favourable and Greens voters 23% more favourable/58% less favourable.

    47% of those aged under 35 were less favourable compared to 66% of those aged 45+. Comments »

  • May, 2010

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    View of Kevin Rudd

    If a little less or much less favourable –

    Q. And which of the following would you say has been the main reason for your view of Kevin Rudd and the Labor Government becoming less favourable in recent weeks?

    Not honouring their election commitments 24%
    Too much spending 15%
    Too soft on asylum seekers 15%
    Problems with insulation and school building programs 13%
    The 40% tax on mining companies 12%
    Postponing introduction of ETS to address climate change 7%
    Too tough on asylum seekers 4%
    Some other reason 7%
    No particular reason 6%

     Sample size = 642

    Of those who had a less favourable view of Kevin Rudd and the Labor Government, 24% said their main reason was not honouring their election commitments, 15% too much spending and 15% thought the Government was too soft on asylum seekers.

    Among Labor voters the main reasons were not honouring election commitments (30%) and problems with the insulation and school building programs (14%).

    For Coalition voters the main reasons were not honouring election commitments (27%), the 40% tax on mining companies (18%) and too much spending (17%).

    For Greens voters the main reasons were postponing the introduction of the ETS (34%) and problems with then insulation and school building programs (16%). Comments »

  • May, 2010

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    Trustworthiness of Leaders

    Q. Do you think the Opposition leader Tony Abbott is more or less trustworthy than the average Australian political leader?Q. And do you think the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is more or less trustworthy than the average Australian political leader?

      Tony Abbott Kevin Rudd
    Total more trustworthy 20% 19%
    Total less trustworthy 32% 34%
    A lot more trustworthy 8% 4%
    A little more trustworthy 12% 15%
    About the same 40% 41%
    A little less trustworthy 10% 13%
    A lot less trustworthy 22% 21%
    Don’t know 9% 5%

    Perceptions of trustworthiness were similar for the two leaders  – both net negative.

    20% believe Tony Abbott to be more trustworthy than the average compared to 32% less trustworthy. For Kevin Rudd the results were 19% more trustworthy and 34% less trustworthy.

    47% of Coalition voters think Tony Abbott is more trustworthy and 56% of Labor voters think he is less trustworthy. For Kevin Rudd 40% of Labor voters think he is more trustworthy and 69% of Coalition voters think he is less trustworthy.

    Greens voters tend to think Tony Abbott is less trustworthy (55%) and are split on Kevin Rudd (24% more/25% less). Comments »

  • May, 2010

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    Reducing the Deficit

    Q. Do you think that with this Budget, the Government has done enough to reduce the deficit and return the budget to surplus in the next few years?

      Total Vote Labor Vote Liberal/ National
    Has done enough 31% 59% 12%
    Hasn’t done enough 39% 16% 69%
    Don’t know 31% 26% 20%

     31% think that the Government has done enough to reduce the deficit and 39% think they have not done enough. Responses mostly followed party preferences – 59% of Labor voters think they have done enough and 69% of Coalition voters think they have not done enough. Greens voters split 40% enough/31% not enough. Comments »

  • May, 2010

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    Attributes to describe the Prime Minister

    Q.  Which of the following describe your opinion of the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd?

      29 June 09 7 Dec 09 10 May 10 Change
    Intelligent 84% 82% 73% -9%
    Hard-working 83% 77% 76% -1%
    A capable leader 72% 69% 55% -14%
    Demanding 67% 60% 69% +9%
    Arrogant 46% 49% 57% +8%
    Out of touch with ordinary people 41% 45% 55% +10%
    Understands the problems facing Australia 67% 59% 53% -6%
    Visionary 49% 48% 37% -11%
    Superficial 40% 41% 52% +11%
    Good in a crisis 60% 58% 44% -14%
    Narrow-minded 32% 36% 43% +7%
    Down to earth 56% 55% 47% -8%
    Too inflexible 32% 38% 45% +7%
    Complacent 28% 38% 38%
    More honest than most politicians 47% 49% 39% -10%
    Trustworthy * 51% 41% -10%

    *Not asked in June 2009

     Most people consider Rudd hard working (76%), intelligent (73%) and demanding (69%). 

     Since this question was last asked in December 2009, Kevin Rudd has lost points on most positive qualities including being a capable leader 

    (-14%), good in a crisis (-14%), visionary (-11%) and trustworthy (-10%). His ratings have increased significantly in terms of being superficial (+11) and out of touch with ordinary people (+10%). Comments »

  • May, 2010

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    Comparison of Leader Attributes

    Q.  Which of the following describe your opinion of the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott?

      Kevin Rudd Tony Abbott Difference
    Intelligent 73% 72% +1%
    Hard-working 76% 71% +5%
    A capable leader 55% 50% +5%
    Demanding 69% 52% +17%
    Arrogant 57% 54% +3%
    Out of touch with ordinary people 55% 51% +4%
    Understands the problems facing Australia 53% 49% +4%
    Visionary 37% 35% +2%
    Superficial 52% 44% +8%
    Good in a crisis 44% 40% +4%
    Narrow-minded 43% 53% -10%
    Down to earth 47% 50% -3%
    Too inflexible 45% 47% -2%
    Complacent 38% 30% -8%
    More honest than most politicians 39% 33% +6%
    Trustworthy 41% 39% +2%

     Kevin Rudd has only slightly better ratings than Tony Abbott across key positive attributes such as hard-working (+5%), a capable leader (+5%) and trustworthy (+2%).

    The main differences were that Kevin Rudd is perceived as more demanding (69%/52%), less narrow-minded (43%/53%), more superficial (52%/44%) and more complacent (38%/30%). Comments »

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