Attributes to describe the Prime Minister
Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard?
| Kevin Rudd | Julia Gillard | ||
| 10 May 10 | 5 Jul 10 | Difference | |
| Intelligent | 73% | 87% | +14 |
| Hard-working | 76% | 89% | +13 |
| A capable leader | 55% | 72% | +17 |
| Demanding | 69% | 58% | -11 |
| Arrogant | 57% | 37% | -20 |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 55% | 35% | -20 |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 53% | 68% | +15 |
| Visionary | 37% | 48% | +11 |
| Superficial | 52% | 35% | -17 |
| Good in a crisis | 44% | 61% | +17 |
| Narrow-minded | 43% | 28% | -15 |
| Down to earth | 47% | 68% | +21 |
| Too inflexible | 45% | 26% | -19 |
| Complacent | 38% | 27% | -11 |
| More honest than most politicians | 39% | 45% | +6 |
| Trustworthy | 41% | 49% | +8 |
Julia Gillard’s key attributes are – intelligent, hard-working, a capable leader, understands the problems facing Australia and down to earth.
Compared to the previous measures for Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard scores considerably higher on positive attributes – especially down to earth (+21), and a capable leader (+17) – and considerably lower on out of touch (-20), arrogant (-20) and too inflexible (-19). Comments »
Comparison of Leader Attributes
| Julia Gillard | Tony Abbott | Difference | |
| Intelligent | 87% | 70% | +17 |
| Hard-working | 89% | 76% | +13 |
| A capable leader | 72% | 47% | +25 |
| Demanding | 58% | 53% | +5 |
| Arrogant | 37% | 59% | -22 |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 35% | 57% | -22 |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 68% | 50% | +18 |
| Visionary | 48% | 32% | +16 |
| Superficial | 35% | 45% | -10 |
| Good in a crisis | 61% | 40% | +21 |
| Narrow-minded | 28% | 56% | -28 |
| Down to earth | 68% | 47% | +21 |
| Too inflexible | 26% | 45% | -19 |
| Complacent | 27% | 34% | +13 |
| More honest than most politicians | 45% | 33% | +12 |
| Trustworthy | 49% | 33% | +16 |
Julia Gillard is rated substantially higher than Tony Abbott on all positive attributes and lower on negative attributes.
The largest differences are in terms of narrow-minded (-28%), a capable leader (+25%) and arrogant (-22%).
Changing Leaders – Approval
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of Julia Gillard replacing Kevin Rudd as leader of the Labor Party and Prime Minister?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | |
| Total approve | 47% | 68% | 36% |
| Total disapprove | 40% | 23% | 60% |
| Strongly approve | 15% | 27% | 10% |
| Approve | 32% | 41% | 26% |
| Disapprove | 19% | 11% | 26% |
| Strongly disapprove | 21% | 12% | 34% |
| Don’t know | 12% | 9% | 5% |
Sample = 818
47% approved the change from Kevin Rudd to Julia Gillard as Prime Minister and 40% disapproved. Opinions reflected political party preferences. Labor voters strongly approved the change by 68% to 23% while 60% of Liberal/National voters disapproved and 36% approved. There were no significant differences by gender. However, older respondents were more likely to approve than younger respondents – 55% of those aged 55+ approved and 37% disapproved. Comments »
Changing Leaders – Likelihood of Voting Labor
Q. Does having Julia Gillard as Prime Minister make you more or less likely to vote for the Labor Party?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total more likely | 26% | 44% | 11% | 31% |
| Total less likely | 24% | 11% | 38% | 22% |
| Much more likely | 10% | 24% | 1% | 5% |
| A bit more likely | 16% | 20% | 10% | 26% |
| A bit less likely | 8% | 8% | 6% | 12% |
| Much less likely | 16% | 3% | 32% | 10% |
| Makes no difference | 41% | 40% | 47% | 40% |
| Don’t know | 8% | 5% | 3% | 7% |
Sample = 818
In aggregate, the results indicate the change will have little impact on voting intentions. 41% say it makes no difference to their vote, 26% say they are more likely to vote Labor and 24% less likely. Among Labor voters 44% say they are more likely to vote Labor and 11% less likely.
Greens voters were overall a little more positive about voting Labor – 31% more likely and 22% less likely. Comments »
Better Prime Minister
Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | 21 Jun 10 | ||
| Julia Gillard | 49% | 86% | 12% | 50% | |
| Tony Abbott | 29% | 4% | 73% | 32% | |
| Don’t know | 22% | 11% | 12% | 18% |
Sample = 818
49% preferred Julia Gillard as Prime Minister and 29% preferred Tony Abbott – similar to the results from last week before Julia Gillard became Prime Minister. This is also slightly better than last week’s result for Kevin Rudd when he was preferred over Tony Abbott by 47% to 30%. Men preferred Julia Gillard 47%/33% and women 51%/25%. Comments »
#spill paves the way for a more involved election with 24hr news and social media.
7pm hungry.
I, like many other ‘Gen Y-can’t-I-do-everything-on-my-iPhone?’, first heard about the political events of last week while browsing my iphone for twitter, news feeds and facebook status updates, in front of the slower to react television on Wednesday night.
And feed we did.
As soon as the door shut on the then Prime Minister’s office, social networks were abuzz with the thought of a coup, thousands of tweeps all across Australia were glued to their 140 character evening dinner, with each and all sharing their pointed opinion on the ensuing #spill.
24hr news was being fed from all of this online action, with sky news reporters constantly taking advice and proclaiming news from their iphone instant news features, SMS and Twitter.
Pass the buttered corn. Comments »
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 »
Best Leader – Gillard/Abbott
Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | |
| Tony Abbott | 32% | 6% | 76% |
| Julia Gillard | 50% | 85% | 16% |
| Don’t know | 18% | 9% | 8% |
50% believe that Julia Gillard would make the better Prime Minister and 32% prefer Tony Abbott.
There were major differences by gender – men preferred Julia Gillard by a margin of 7% (47%/40%) whereas the margin among women was 28% (53%/25%). Greens voters preferred Julia Gillard 83% to 8%. Comments »
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Essential Report
In this week's report:
- Federal voting intention
- Leader attributes: Scott Morrison
- Federal government response to Covid-19
- State government response to Covid-19
- Uptake of a Covid-19 vaccine
- Reason those who would get vaccinated against Covid-19 have not been vaccinated yet
- Speed of NSW lockdown
- Time for Covid-19 milestones to occur for NSW
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