a, approval, approval of PM, Prime Minister, 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 | |
| Strongly approve | 21% | 14% | 15% | 9% | 10% | 11% | 11% | 12% | 8% |
| Approve | 50% | 48% | 51% | 47% | 47% | 44% | 41% | 41% | 38% |
| Disapprove | 14% | 18% | 17% | 20% | 20% | 19% | 20% | 22% | 25% |
| Strongly disapprove | 7% | 9% | 6% | 15% | 12% | 14% | 17% | 14% | 17% |
| Don’t know | 9% | 11% | 11% | 10% | 10% | 12% | 11% | 12% | 12% |
| Total approve | 71% | 62% | 66% | 56% | 57% | 55% | 52% | 53% | 46% |
| Total disapprove | 21% | 29% | 23% | 35% | 32% | 33% | 37% | 36% | 42% |
Kevin Rudd’s approval rating has fallen to the lowest recorded since he became Prime Minister. 46% approve (down 7%) of the job Kevin Rudd is doing as Prime Minister and 42% disapprove (up 6%).
90% of Labor voters approve and 5% disapprove. 12% of Liberal/National voters approve and 81% disapprove.
Those aged over 55 are more likely to disapprove – 38% approve and 57% disapprove.
Abbott, approval, Approval of opposition leader
Q. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?
| Malcolm Turnbull | Tony Abbott | ||||||||
| 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 | |
| Strongly approve | 3% | 4% | 3% | 2% | 7% | 5% | 12% | 8% | 5% |
| Approve | 25% | 20% | 24% | 23% | 27% | 32% | 33% | 25% | 34% |
| Disapprove | 31% | 31% | 35% | 33% | 18% | 20% | 20% | 28% | 24% |
| Strongly disapprove | 17% | 26% | 18% | 22% | 18% | 17% | 16% | 22% | 19% |
| Don’t know | 24% | 19% | 21% | 19% | 31% | 26% | 18% | 16% | 18% |
| Total approve | 28% | 24% | 27% | 25% | 34% | 37% | 45% | 33% | 39% |
| Total disapprove | 48% | 57% | 53% | 55% | 36% | 37% | 36% | 50% | 43% |
Tony Abbott’s approval rating regained some of the large decline recorded in the previous poll. 39% approve (up 6%) of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader and 43% disapprove (down 7%).
74% of Liberal/National voters approve and 18% disapprove. 23% of Labor voters approve and 66% disapprove.
Those aged over 55 are more likely to approve – 49% approve and 41% disapprove. Comments »
Abbott, approval, Approval of opposition leader, approval of PM, opinion of opposition leader, opinion of pm, rudd
Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd?
Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott?
| Rudd
1 March 10 |
Abbott
1 March 10 |
Difference (Rudd lead) | |
| Intelligent | 82% | 71% | +11% |
| Hard-working | 77% | 69% | +8% |
| A capable leader | 65% | 49% | +16% |
| Demanding | 55% | 55% | – |
| Arrogant | 45% | 53% | -8% |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 45% | 50% | +5% |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 62% | 49% | +13% |
| Visionary | 44% | 33% | +11% |
| Superficial | 46% | 43% | +3 |
| Good in a crisis | 56% | 38% | +18% |
| Narrow-minded | 36% | 57% | -21% |
| Down to earth | 57% | 46% | +11% |
| Too inflexible | 38% | 49% | -11% |
| Complacent | 40% | 33% | +7% |
| More honest than most politicians | 47% | 34% | +13% |
| Trustworthy | 51% | 38% | +13% |
Rudd has his strongest lead over Abbott when it comes to appearing good in a crisis (+18%) and as a capable leader (+16%). People think Rudd is better than Abbott when it comes to understanding the problems facing Australia (+13%), more honest than most politicians (+13%) and trustworthy (+13%).
Rudd trails Abbott most significantly in terms of appearing narrow-minded (-21%), too inflexible (-11%) and arrogant (-8%). Comments »
approval, approval of PM, Prime Minister, rudd
Q. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Kevin Rudd is doing as Prime Minister?
| 9 Feb 09 | 30 Mar 09 | 18 May 09 | 29 Jun 09 | 10 Aug 09 | 28 Sept 09 | 9 Nov 09 | 30 Nov 09 | 14 Dec 09 | 18 Jan 10 | 22 Feb 10 | |
| Strongly approve | 17% | 21% | 14% | 14% | 13% | 15% | 14% | 9% | 10% | 11% | 11% |
| Approve | 50% | 50% | 48% | 48% | 47% | 51% | 47% | 47% | 47% | 44% | 41% |
| Disapprove | 15% | 14% | 18% | 18% | 17% | 17% | 19% | 20% | 20% | 19% | 20% |
| Strongly disapprove | 8% | 7% | 11% | 9% | 10% | 6% | 13% | 15% | 12% | 14% | 17% |
| Don’t know | 9% | 9% | 9% | 11% | 12% | 11% | 8% | 10% | 10% | 12% | 11% |
| Total approve | 67% | 71% | 62% | 62% | 60% | 66% | 61% | 56% | 57% | 55% | 52% |
| Total disapprove | 23% | 21% | 29% | 29% | 27% | 23% | 32% | 35% | 32% | 33% | 37% |
Just over half (52%) of those surveyed approve of the job Kevin Rudd is doing as Prime Minister, 37% disapprove and 11% don’t know. This gives Kevin Rudd a net approval rating of +15%.
Rudd has the lowest approval rating and the highest disapproval rating that has been reported in the Essential Report since we began asking this question in 2008.
Results followed party lines – Labor voters were more likely to approve of the job Rudd is doing (92%), while Coalition voters were more likely to disapprove (78%). 17% of Coalition voters approve of the job Rudd is doing as Prime Minister.
59% of Green voters approve of the job Rudd is doing, while 30% of these same voters disapprove.
People aged 18 – 24 were more likely to approve of the job Rudd is doing (59%), while people aged 65 years and over were more likely to disapprove (59%). Comments »
Abbott, approval, Approval of opposition leader, malcolm turnbull, Turnbull
Q. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?
| Malcolm Turnbull | Tony Abbott | ||||||||||
| 9 Feb 09 | 30 Mar 09 | 18 May 09 | 29 Jun 09 | 10 Aug 09 | 28 Sept 09 | 9 Nov 09 | 30 Nov 09 | 14 Dec 09 | 18 Jan 10 | 22 Feb 10 | |
| Strongly approve | 3% | 3% | 2% | 4% | 2% | 3% | 3% | 2% | 7% | 5% | 12% |
| Approve | 29% | 25% | 28% | 20% | 20% | 24% | 26% | 23% | 27% | 32% | 33% |
| Disapprove | 26% | 31% | 28% | 31% | 30% | 35% | 30% | 33% | 18% | 20% | 20% |
| Strongly disapprove | 17% | 17% | 21% | 26% | 28% | 18% | 20% | 22% | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| Don’t know | 24% | 24% | 21% | 19% | 20% | 21% | 20% | 19% | 31% | 26% | 18% |
| Total approve | 32% | 28% | 30% | 24% | 22% | 27% | 29% | 25% | 34% | 37% | 45% |
| Total disapprove | 43% | 48% | 49% | 57% | 58% | 53% | 50% | 55% | 36% | 37% | 36% |
Just under half (45%) of those surveyed approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader, 36% disapprove and 18% don’t know. This gives Tony Abbott a net approval rating of +9%.
This is the highest approval rating that has been recorded for Abbott in the Essential Report thus far and higher than Turnbull ever scored in our polling.
Results followed party lines – Coalition voters were more likely to approve of the job Abbott is doing (79%), while Labor voters were more likely to disapprove (58%). 28% of Labor voters approve of the job Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader.
68% of Green voters disapprove of the job Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader and 19% of these same voters approve.
People aged 65 years and over were more likely to approve of the job Abbott is doing (68%), while younger voters were more likely to indicate they don’t know (37%).
Males were more likely than females to approve of the job Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader (47% v 43%). Comments »
approval, environment, Garrett, Labor, Peter Garrett
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Peter Garrett is doing as Environment Minister?
| % | |
| Strongly approve | 4% |
| Approve | 24% |
| Disapprove | 26% |
| Strongly disapprove | 30% |
| Don’t know | 16% |
| Total approve | 28% |
| Total disapprove | 56% |
Just over half (56%) of those surveyed disapprove of the job Peter Garrett is doing as Environment Minister, 28% approve and 16% don’t know.
This gives Peter Garrett an approval rating of -28%.
Results followed party lines – Labor voters were more likely to approve (47%), while Coalition voters were more likely to disapprove (84%). 37% of Labor voters disapprove of the job Garrett is doing as Environment Minister.
Green voters were reasonably split in terms of their level of approval of the Environment Minister – 42% approve and 46% disapprove of the job Garrett is doing.
People aged 65 years and over were more likely to disapprove (82%) while those aged 35 – 44 were more likely to approve (35%).
We asked a similar question in June 2008 asking people to rate the performance of Peter Garrett – 32% rated his performance as very good/good and 47% rated it as very poor/poor. Comments »
approval, Finance, Labor, Lindsay Tanner, Tanner
Q Do you approve or disapprove of the job Lindsay Tanner is doing as Finance Minister?
| % | |
| Total approve | 31% |
| Total disapprove | 24% |
| Net rating | +7% |
| Strongly approve | 5% |
| Approve | 26% |
| Disapprove | 18% |
| Strongly disapprove | 6% |
| Don’t know | 45% |
31% approve of the job Lindsay Tanner is doing as Finance Minister, 24% disapprove and 45% don’t know.
Results followed party lines – Labor voters were more likely to approve (56%), while Coalition voters were more likely to disapprove (49%). 43% of Green voters approve of the job Tanner is doing as Finance Minister.
Males were more likely to approve of the job Tanner is doing (39%), while females were more likely to indicate they don’t know (55%).
People aged 55 years and over were more likely that those in other age groups to disapprove (36%). Comments »
approval, Barnaby Joyce, Coalition, Finance, Joyce, Nationals
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Barnaby Joyce is doing as opposition shadow Finance Minister?
| % | |
| Total approve | 25% |
| Total disapprove | 36% |
| Net rating | -11% |
| Strongly approve | 4% |
| Approve | 21% |
| Disapprove | 22% |
| Strongly disapprove | 14% |
| Don’t know | 39% |
One quarter (25%) of those surveyed approve of the job Barnaby Joyce is doing as opposition shadow Finance Minister, 36% disapprove and 39% don’t know.
Results followed party lines – Coalition voters were more likely to approve of the job Joyce is doing (47%), while Labor voters were more likely to disapprove (53%).
56% of Green voters and 23% of Coalition voters disapprove of the job Joyce is doing as opposition shadow Finance Minister.
Males were more likely to disapprove of the job Joyce is doing (43%), while females were more likely to indicate they don’t know (47%). Comments »