Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Scott Morrison is doing as Prime Minister?

• The Prime Minister’s approval rating is now at 50% – this is the lowest approval rating in the last 12 months.
• Disapproval remains the same as last month at 40%. This continues to be the highest disapproval rating in the last 12 months.
• The PM’s approval rating has decreased in NSW (50%, from 53% last month) and VIC (45% this month, from 49% last month).

Q.  Do you approve or disapprove of the job Anthony Albanese is doing as Opposition Leader?

• The Opposition Leader’s approval rating has decreased to 34%, down from 41% last month.
• The proportion of people disapproving of Albanese has increased since last month, now at 38% (from 35%). 28% say they are unsure of his performance.

Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese?

• Less than half (45%) of Australians now think that Scott Morrison would make a better PM than Anthony Albanese (46% last month).
• Just over a quarter (26%) think the opposition leader would make the better Prime Minister (28% in June). 29% of participants don’t know who would make the better PM.

Q. Overall, how would you rate the federal government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak?

• 38% of people rate the federal government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak as quite good or very good, with 35% rating it as quite poor or very poor. This is the worst rating recorded to date for this question which was first asked in March 2020.
• Positive rating of the federal government’s handling of Covid-19 has dropped to its lowest recorded level in almost all states this month; most notably in WA (down from 51% last month, to 37%), NSW (39%, down from 49% in July), VIC (33% – the lowest rating of all states), and QLD (40%).

Q. How would you rate your state government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak?

• Amid the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown in NSW, positive rating of the state government’s response to Covid-19 continues to drop, now at 47% from 57% a month ago.
• Coinciding with the eased restrictions in VIC, rating of the state government has improved (now at 54%, 50% last month).
• Positive rating of the SA government’s handling of Covid-19 has increased to 73%, an improvement from last month (67%).
• Positive rating of the WA government’s handling of Covid-19 has increased to 82%, an improvement from mid-July (77%).
• In QLD, positive rating of the state government’s handling of Covid-19 is at 60%, consistent with a month ago (61%).

Q. How well do you think your state government has handled the latest Covid-19 outbreak in your state?

[Asked only to those in NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, and WA]

• Of people in states which were recently affected by Covid-19 outbreaks, NSW residents are the least likely to think their state government has handled the outbreak well.
• About a quarter (24%) of those in NSW think their state government handled the outbreak extremely well or very well, compared to 47% of Victorians and Queenslanders respectively, 69% of South Australians, and 74% of Western Australians.

Q. Thinking about the latest Covid-19 lockdown in your state, do you think your state government…?

[Asked only to those in NSW, VIC, and SA]

• Half (50%) of those in NSW think their state government did not lock down hard enough. 39% think their state government locked down at about the right level, and 11% think they locked down too harshly.
• In contrast, the majority of Victorians (71%) and South Australians (85%) think their state governments locked down at about the right level.
• 23% of Victorians think their state government locked down too harshly.

Q. As far as you know, is the Australian Government doing enough, not enough or too much to support people affected by lockdowns?

• Just over a third of people (37%) think the government is not doing enough to support people affected by lockdowns, while just under half (47%) think the government is doing enough about this. 6% think they are doing too much and 9% are unsure.
• Greens, Labor and minor/independent party voters are more likely than Coalition voters to think the government is not doing enough to support those affected by lockdowns (63%, 49% and 45% to 19% respectively).
• In all states, around half of people think the government is doing enough to support those affected by the lockdowns. However, Victorians and South Australians are more likely than other states to think the government is not doing enough to support people affected by lockdowns (43% and 42% respectively).