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Federal opposition during Covid-19

Mar 24, 2020
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Q. Which of the following is closest to your view on the role of the Federal Labor opposition during the response to the Covid-19 outbreak?

    Gender Age Group Federal Voting Intention
  Total Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+ Coalition Labor Greens NET: Other
Opposition should accept the Government recommendations to ensure decisions are made quickly 49% 52% 45% 46% 46% 54% 66% 40% 35% 49%
Opposition review and challenge Government decisions to ensure the best decisions are made 33% 35% 31% 33% 30% 36% 24% 45% 41% 33%
Unsure 19% 13% 24% 21% 24% 10% 10% 15% 25% 18%
Base (n) 1,034 519 515 342 327 365 324 344 108 126
  • Half of people (49%) prefer decisions to make quickly by to Government to react to the Covid-19 outbreak. This is highest among Coalition voters (66%).
  • A third (33%) want decisions reviewed and challenged by the opposition.
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Performance of Scott Morrison

Mar 10, 2020
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Q Do you approve or disapprove of the job Scott Morrison is doing as Prime Minister?

Mar’20 Feb’20 Jan’20 Dec’19 Nov’19 Oct’19 Sep’19 Aug’19 Jul’19
NET: Approve 41% 39% 40% 45% 45% 47% 49% 48% 48%
NET: Disapprove 49% 52% 52% 43% 41% 38% 36% 37% 34%
Don’t know 10% 9% 8% 13% 13% 15% 15% 16% 18%
Base (n) 1,096 1,056 1,081 1,035 1,075 1,088 1,093 1,096 1,091
Total Federal Voting Intention
Labor Coalition Greens NET: Other
Strongly approve 11% 4% 23% 1% 9%
Approve 31% 15% 54% 14% 29%
Disapprove 23% 31% 16% 23% 26%
Strongly disapprove 26% 44% 3% 56% 30%
Don’t know 10% 7% 4% 5% 7%
NET: Approve 41% 19% 77% 16% 38%
NET: Disapprove 49% 75% 19% 79% 55%
Base (n) 1,096 347 359 92 171
  • The Prime Minister’s approval rating is now at 41% and still has not recovered following the fall from 45% at the end of last year.
  • Now 49% disapprove of his performance, which shows no change from January (52%).
  • However, the PM’s approval rating among Coalition voters remains high, 77% approval (78% in Feb’20).
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Performance of Anthony Albanese

Mar 10, 2020
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Q Do you approve or disapprove of the job Anthony Albanese is doing as Opposition Leader?

Mar’20 Feb’20 Jan’20 Dec’19 Nov’19 Oct’19 Sep’19 Aug’19 Jul’19
NET: Approve 41% 41% 43% 39% 37% 40% 36% 38% 39%
NET: Disapprove 33% 31% 30% 28% 34% 29% 31% 29% 24%
Don’t know 26% 28% 27% 33% 29% 31% 33% 33% 37%
Base (n) 1,096 1,056 1,081 1,035 1,075 1,088 1,093 1,096 1,091
Total Federal Voting Intention
Labor Coalition Greens NET: Other
Strongly approve 8% 16% 4% 7% 7%
Approve 33% 48% 30% 33% 19%
Disapprove 22% 14% 30% 29% 25%
Strongly disapprove 10% 2% 19% 5% 16%
Don’t know 26% 20% 17% 26% 33%
NET: Approve 41% 64% 34% 40% 26%
NET: Disapprove 33% 16% 49% 33% 41%
Base (n) 1,096 347 359 92 171
  • The Opposition Leader’s approval rating is also at 41%, on par with the results from Jan’20 (43%).
  • A third of participants (33%) disapprove of Albanese’s performance which is up from Dec’19 (28%).
  • Albanese’s approval among Labor voters remains relatively low at 64%, compared to Morrison’s approval among Coalition voters (77%).
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Preferred Prime Minister

Mar 10, 2020
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Q Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese?

Mar’20 Feb’20 Jan’20 Nov’19 Oct’19 Sep’19 Aug’19 Jul’19 Jun’19
Scott Morrison 40% 36% 36% 44% 43% 46% 44% 44% 43%
Anthony Albanese 35% 36% 39% 28% 28% 25% 28% 26% 25%
Don’t know 25% 28% 25% 29% 29% 29% 28% 31% 32%
Base (n) 1,096 1,056 1,081 1,075 1,088 1,093 1,096 1,091 1,099
    Federal Voting Intention
Total Labor Coalition Greens NET: Other
Scott Morrison 40% 13% 78% 15% 38%
Anthony Albanese 35% 66% 11% 58% 23%
Don’t know 25% 21% 12% 27% 39%
Base (n) 1,096 347 359 92 171
  • 40% of participants believe that Scott Morrison would make a better PM than Anthony Albanese (35%).
  • Three-quarters (78%) of Coalition voters prefer Morrison whereas 66% of Labor voters prefer Albanese.
  • A quarter (25%) of participants don’t know who would make the better PM.
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Most Important Issues

Mar 10, 2020
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Q Which of the following issues are the most important for the Federal Government to address over the next 12 months?

  Total Change (Oct’19) Oct’19
Improve the health system 38% +6 32%
Create jobs and reduce unemployment 31% -5 36%
Protection of the environment 29% +2 27%
Reduce utility bills 23% -4 27%
Promote renewable energy 22% +3 19%
Improve wages and working conditions 21% -3 24%
Limit the amount of migration to Australia 20% +1 19%
Increase housing affordability 19% – 19%
Crack-down on tax avoidance by big companies 17% +1 16%
Maintain strong border protection 15% +3 12%
Provide tax cuts 13% -2 15%
Ensure the security of energy supply 11% -2 13%
Combat domestic crime 11% +1 10%
Provide more money for education 10% -1 11%
Combat international crime and terrorism 7% -1 8%
Increase the budget surplus 6% – 6%
Improve conditions for refugees and asylum seekers 5% -1 6%
Base (n) 1,096 – 1,088
  • The top three most important issues for the Federal Government to address over the next 12 months are improving the health system (38%), creating jobs and reducing unemployment (31%) and protecting the environment (29%).
  • Improving the health system (now 38%, was 32%) is ahead of creating jobs and reducing unemployment (now 31%, was 36%) compared to October ‘19.
  • Reducing utility bills is also less important now (23%) than it was in October ‘19 (27%).
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Better at managing the economy

Mar 10, 2020
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Q Which party do you think is better at managing:

  Coalition Labor Neither Difference (Coalition minus Labor)
The economy to benefit big business 53% 22% 26% +31
The economy generally 40% 31% 29% +9
The economy to benefit small business 36% 35% 29% +1
The economy to benefit older Australians 32% 35% 33% -3
The economy to benefit people living in regional communities 29% 35% 37% -6
The economy to benefit workers 26% 46% 28% -20
  • The Coalition is perceived to be better at managing the economy to benefit big business (53%) and managing the economy generally (40%) than Labor (22% and 31% respectively).
  • Labor is seen as better at managing the economy for workers (46%) than the Coalition (26%).
  • Between a quarter (26%) and a third (37%) of participants believe that neither Coalition nor Labor is better at managing any economic elements.
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Better at managing major events

Mar 10, 2020
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Q Which party do you think is better at managing:

  Coalition Labor Neither Difference (Coalition minus Labor)
A major security threat 39% 27% 34% +12
The ageing population 35% 27% 38% +8
A global economic crisis 35% 30% 36% +5
A major health risk 34% 29% 37% +5
A major environmental crisis 28% 32% 39% -4
The transition from a carbon-based to a renewable based energy market 25% 37% 38% -12
  • The Coalition is seen as better at managing a major security threat (39%) and the ageing population (35%) than Labor (both 27%).
  • Whereas Labor is perceived to be better at managing the transition from a carbon-based to a renewable based energy market (37%), compared to 25% Coalition.
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Coronavirus concerns

Mar 10, 2020
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Q To what extent are you concerned about the threat of the Coronavirus in Australia?

  Mar’20 Feb’20 Difference
Very concerned 27% 25% +2
Quite concerned 36% 43% -7
Not that concerned 28% 26% +2
Not at all concerned 9% 6% +3
Base (n) 1,096 1,057 –
  • Net concern about the threat of Coronavirus has decreased overall with 36% of participants now ‘quite concerned’, down from 43% in Feb’20.
  • 9% of participants are now ‘not at all concerned’ about Coronavirus, up from 6% last month.

Likelihood of developing Coronavirus

Q How likely do you think it is, that you will develop Coronavirus?

    Age group Federal Voting Intention
  Total 18-34 35-54 55+ Labor Coalition Greens NET: Other
Very likely 7% 11% 9% 2% 6% 7% 6% 10%
Somewhat likely 24% 25% 27% 21% 27% 26% 18% 21%
Somewhat unlikely 43% 35% 42% 49% 40% 48% 37% 38%
Very unlikely 26% 29% 22% 27% 27% 19% 38% 31%
Base (n) 1,096 341 370 385 347 359 92 171
  • Overall, two-thirds (68%) of participants think it’s unlikely that they will develop Coronavirus.
  • Especially those over 55 years old (77%) tend to believe it’s unlikely they will develop Coronavirus.
  • Greens voters tend to believe it’s very unlikely they will develop Coronavirus (38%) compared to all other voters (24%).
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COVID-19 RESEARCH

Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.

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Essential Report

Two Party Preferred: 14 May 2019

Labor
51.5%-0.5
Coalition
48.5%+0.5

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