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  • Jul, 2010

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    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 »

  • Jul, 2010

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    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%).

  • Jun, 2010

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    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 »

  • Jun, 2010

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    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 »

  • Jun, 2010

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    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 »

  • Jun, 2010

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    #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 »

  • Jun, 2010

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    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 »

  • Jun, 2010

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    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 »

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