Which of the following describe your opinion of the Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten?
| Total | Sep 2015 | Change | |||
| Hard working | 60% | 61% | -1 | ||
| Intelligent | 56% | 58% | -2 | ||
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 47% | 48% | -1 | ||
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 45% | 46% | -1 | ||
| Superficial | 45% | 43% | +2 | ||
| Arrogant | 41% | 41% | – | ||
| Narrow-minded | 41% | 41% | – | ||
| Erratic | 40% | 39% | +1 | ||
| A capable leader | 34% | 36% | -2 | ||
| Aggressive | 34% | 36% | -2 | ||
| Intolerant | 32% | 33% | -1 | ||
| Good in a crisis | 32% | 33% | -1 | ||
| Trustworthy | 31% | 30% | +1 | ||
| Visionary | 27% | 26% | +1 | ||
| More honest than most politicians | 25% | 23% | +2 |
Bill Shorten’s key attributes were hard working (60%), intelligent (56%), understands the problems facing Australia (47%), out of touch with ordinary people (45%) and superficial (45%).
There has been very little change in Bill Shorten’s ratings since September.
| Malcolm Turnbull | Bill Shorten | Difference | ||
| A capable leader | 64% | 34% | +30 | |
| Intelligent | 79% | 56% | +23 | |
| Good in a crisis | 52% | 32% | +20 | |
| Visionary | 44% | 27% | +17 | |
| More honest than most politicians | 41% | 25% | +16 | |
| Trustworthy | 44% | 31% | +13 | |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 53% | 45% | +8 | |
| Hard-working | 68% | 60% | +8 | |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 53% | 47% | +6 | |
| Arrogant | 45% | 41% | +4 | |
| Superficial | 43% | 45% | -2 | |
| Intolerant | 26% | 32% | -6 | |
| Narrow-minded | 33% | 41% | -8 | |
| Aggressive | 24% | 34% | -10 | |
| Erratic | 27% | 40% | -13 |
Compared to Bill Shorten, Malcolm Turnbull is much more likely to be considered a capable leader (+30%), intelligent (+23%), good in a crisis (+20%) and visionary (+17%) – although these margins have dropped since September.
Bill Shorten is regarded by more respondents to be erratic (-13%) and aggressive (-10%).
Which of the following do you think would make the best leader of the Liberal Party?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Jun 2014 | Feb 2015 | Aug 2015 | Sep 2015 | Dec 2015 | |||
| Malcolm Turnbull | 39% | 31% | 53% | 40% | 26% | 31% | 24% | 24% | 37% | 42% | ||
| Tony Abbott | 9% | 5% | 17% | 1% | 11% | 18% | 11% | 18% | 9% | 9% | ||
| Julie Bishop | 12% | 17% | 11% | 16% | 9% | 4% | 21% | 17% | 14% | 13% | ||
| Christopher Pyne | 1% | 2% | 1% | – | 1% | <1% | <1% | 1% | 1% | 2% | ||
| Scott Morrison | 2% | 2% | 4% | 1% | 4% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 2% | ||
| Someone else | 15% | 23% | 5% | 23% | 24% | 19% | 13% | 13% | 10% | 9% | ||
| Don’t know | 21% | 21% | 95 | 20% | 25% | 21% | 24% | 22% | 21% | 22% |
39% (down 3% since December) think Malcolm Turnbull would make the best leader of the Liberal Party, 12% prefer Julie Bishop (down 1%) and 9% prefer Tony Abbott (no change). 15% (up 6%) prefer someone else.
Among Liberal/National voters, 53% (down 4%) prefer Malcolm Turnbull, 17% (up 3%) prefer Tony Abbott and 11% (down 3%) Julie Bishop.
Preferences of men were Malcolm Turnbull 43% (-3%), Tony Abbott 12% (+1%) and Julie Bishop 8% (-2%).
Preferences of women were Malcolm Turnbull 35% (-3%), Julie Bishop 17% (+1%) and Tony Abbott 6% (-2%).
Which of the following do you think would make the best leader of the Labor Party?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aug 2015 | Dec 2015 | |||
| Bill Shorten | 15% | 27% | 10% | 7% | 6% | 16% | 13% | ||
| Anthony Albanese | 14% | 17% | 16% | 9% | 22% | 12% | 14% | ||
| Tanya Plibersek | 14% | 15% | 12% | 33% | 14% | 13% | 14% | ||
| Chris Bowen | 7% | 6% | 10% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 3% | ||
| Someone else | 18% | 11% | 22% | 20% | 33% | 18% | 17% | ||
| Don’t know | 32% | 25% | 30% | 28% | 21% | 36% | 38% |
15% (up 2%) think Bill Shorten would make the best leader of the Labor Party, 14% (no change) prefer Tanya Plibersek and 14% (no change) Anthony Albanese. 18% prefer someone else and 32% don’t know.
Among Labor voters, 27% (no change) prefer Bill Shorten, 17% (-2%) Anthony Albanese and 15% (-3%) Tanya Plibersek.
Preferences of men were Bill Shorten 18%, Anthony Albanese 17% and Tanya Plibersek 10%.
Preferences of women were Tanya Plibersek 18%, Bill Shorten 12% and Anthony Albanese 11%.
Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Dec 2010 | Jun 2011 | Oct 2012 | Oct 2013 | Dec 2014 | Nov 2015 | ||||
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 63% | 76% | 46% | 94% | 56% | 45% | 50% | 48% | 52% | 57% | 56% | |||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 27% | 19% | 42% | 3% | 35% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 29% | 32% | |||
| Don’t know | 10% | 5% | 12% | 3% | 9% | 19% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 12% |
63% (up 7% since November) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 27% (down 5%) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate. This is the highest recorded agreement that climate change is happening and caused by human activity over the last 7 years.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 70%/18% and those aged 55+ split 48%/46%.
As far as you know, do you think Australia is doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aug 2015 | |||
| Doing enough | 21% | 16% | 36% | 1% | 19% | 24% | ||
| Not doing enough | 57% | 71% | 38% | 98% | 57% | 53% | ||
| Doing too much | 8% | 5% | 12% | – | 18% | 7% | ||
| Don’t know | 13% | 9% | 14% | 1% | 5% | 16% |
57% (up 4% since August) think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change and 21% (down 3%) think Australia is doing enough.
Those most likely to think Australia is not dong enough were aged 18-34 (66%) and university educated (64%).
If a Federal Election was held today to which party will you probably give your first preference vote? If not sure, which party are you currently leaning toward? If don’t know -Well which party are you currently leaning to?
| Total | Last week
1/3/16 |
2 weeks ago
23/2/16 |
4 weeks ago
9/2/16 |
Election 7 Sep 13 | |||
| Liberal | 39% | 40% | 41% | 39% | |||
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 43% | 43% | 44% | 43% | 45.6% | ||
| Labor | 37% | 38% | 35% | 35% | 33.4% | ||
| Greens | 10% | 10% | 10% | 11% | 8.6% | ||
| Palmer United Party | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 5.5% | ||
| Other/Independent | 8% | 8% | 10% | 10% | 6.9% | ||
| 2 party preferred | |||||||
| Liberal National | 50% | 50% | 52% | 51% | 53.5% | ||
| Labor | 50% | 50% | 48% | 49% | 46.5% |
Sample = 1,762. The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived from the first preference/leaning to voting questions. Respondents who select ‘don’t know’ are not included in the results. The two-party preferred estimate is calculated by distributing the votes of the other parties according to their preferences at the 2013 election.
Do you approve or disapprove of the job Malcolm Turnbull is doing as Prime Minister?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Oct 2015 | Nov 2015 | Dec 2015 | Jan 2016 | Feb 2016 | |||
| Total approve | 45% | 24% | 75% | 23% | 41% | 47% | 56% | 56% | 51% | 51% | ||
| Total disapprove | 35% | 55% | 13% | 56% | 43% | 17% | 20% | 23% | 25% | 27% | ||
| Strongly approve | 6% | 2% | 13% | – | 3% | 11% | 12% | 13% | 9% | 8% | ||
| Approve | 39% | 22% | 64% | 23% | 38% | 36% | 44% | 43% | 42% | 43% | ||
| Disapprove | 24% | 38% | 11% | 39% | 20% | 11% | 14% | 16% | 16% | 18% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 11% | 17% | 2% | 17% | 23% | 6% | 6% | 7% | 9% | 9% | ||
| Don’t know | 21% | 20% | 8% | 21% | 22% | 35% | 23% | 21% | 23% | 21% |
45% (down 6% since last month) of respondents approve of the job Malcolm Turnbull is doing as Prime Minister and 35% (up 8%) disapprove – a net approval rating of +10 (down 14).
75% (down 8%) of Liberal/National voters approve of Malcolm Turnbull’s performance with 13% (up 4%) disapproving. 24% (down 12%) of Labor voters and 23% (down 10%) of Greens voters approve of Malcolm Turnbull’s performance.
By gender, men were 48% approve/38% disapprove and women 42% approve/30% disapprove.