Attributes to describe the Opposition Leader – Gender differences
Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott?
| Total | Male | Female | |
| Intelligent | 71% | 70% | 71% |
| Hard-working | 78% | 79% | 77% |
| A capable leader | 52% | 54% | 50% |
| Demanding | 61% | 66% | 56% |
| Arrogant | 60% | 63% | 56% |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 53% | 57% | 49% |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 53% | 52% | 54% |
| Visionary | 31% | 32% | 30% |
| Good in a crisis | 42% | 44% | 40% |
| Narrow-minded | 53% | 56% | 51% |
| Down to earth | 47% | 47% | 47% |
| Too inflexible | 43% | 47% | 40% |
| Complacent | 32% | 34% | 29% |
| More honest than most politicians | 32% | 32% | 31% |
| Trustworthy | 35% | 36% | 34% |
View of both leaders
Q. Some people say that with such a closely divided Parliament, both leaders – Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott – should be willing to modify some of their previously-held positions and made more compromises with the opposing side. Others say, that is wrong, that they should stick to the positions they were each elected on. Which is closer to your view?
| Both leaders should be willing to modify some of their previously-held positions and made more compromises with the opposing side | 52% |
| Both leaders should they should stick to the positions they were each elected on | 48% |
Labor (64%) and Green voters (65%) voters were more likely to state that both leaders should be willing to modify some of their previously-held positions. Lib/Nat voters were more likely to state that both leaders should they should stick to the positions (64%).
Those aged 25-34 were more likely (65%) to state that both leaders should be willing to modify some of their previously-held positions. Comments »
Assessment of Leaders
Q. Which leader – Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott – would you say has shown more leadership abilities during the period since the election?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Julia Gillard | 47% | 92% | 10% | 73% |
| Tony Abbott | 35% | 2% | 75% | 4% |
| Don’t know | 18% | 6% | 15% | 23% |
47% think Julia Gillard has shown more leadership abilities during the period since the election and 35% favour Tony Abbott.
By gender – men favour Julia Gillard 47%/38%, women 48%/31%. Comments »
Approval of Julia Gillard
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister?
| Kevin Rudd | Julia Gillard | |||||||
| 30 Mar 09 | 29 Jun 09 | 28 Sept 09 | 14 Dec 09 | 29 Mar 10 | 31 May 10 | 5 Jul 10 | 19 Jul 10 | |
| Total approve | 71% | 62% | 66% | 57% | 53% | 41% | 48% | 52% |
| Total disapprove | 21% | 29% | 23% | 32% | 36% | 47% | 27% | 30% |
| Strongly approve | 21% | 14% | 15% | 10% | 12% | 7% | 14% | 11% |
| Approve | 50% | 48% | 51% | 47% | 41% | 34% | 34% | 41% |
| Disapprove | 14% | 18% | 17% | 20% | 22% | 25% | 13% | 17% |
| Strongly disapprove | 7% | 9% | 6% | 12% | 14% | 22% | 14% | 13% |
| Don’t know | 9% | 11% | 11% | 10% | 12% | 12% | 26% | 18% |
52% approve Julia Gillard’s performance as Prime Minister and 30% disapprove. Since this question was asked 2 weeks ago, approval has increased by 4% and disapproval by 3% – “don’t know” has dropped from 26% to 18%. 89% of Labor voters approve and only 2% disapprove. Among Liberal/National voters, 25% approve and 64% disapprove.
There were substantial differences by gender – men 50% approve/36% disapprove and women 54% approve/25% disapprove.
Important Issues
Q. Which are the three most important issues in deciding how you would vote at a Federal election?
| First | Second | Third | Total | Total
10 May 10 |
Difference | |
| Management of the economy | 38% | 18% | 7% | 63% | 62% | +1% |
| Ensuring the quality of Australia’s health system | 16% | 20% | 19% | 55% | 50% | +5% |
| Australian jobs and protection of local industries | 7% | 8% | 9% | 24% | 29% | -5% |
| Ensuring a quality education for all children | 4% | 11% | 9% | 24% | 19% | +5% |
| Ensuring a fair taxation system | 4% | 6% | 8% | 18% | 22% | -4% |
| Protecting the environment | 5% | 5% | 5% | 15% | 13% | +2% |
| Political leadership | 6% | 3% | 4% | 13% | 12% | +1% |
| Housing affordability | 4% | 4% | 5% | 13% | 17% | -4% |
| Addressing climate change | 4% | 4% | 4% | 12% | 12% | – |
| Controlling interest rates | 3% | 5% | 4% | 12% | 16% | -4% |
| Managing population growth | 1% | 4% | 7% | 12% | 14% | -2% |
| Treatment of asylum seekers | 4% | 3% | 4% | 11% | * | |
| A fair industrial relations system | 2% | 4% | 5% | 11% | 9% | +2% |
| Security and the war on terrorism | 1% | 2% | 5% | 8% | 7% | +1% |
| Ensuring a quality water supply | 1% | 1% | 4% | 6% | 7% | -1% |
*Not asked in May 2010 poll
The most important election issues were management of the economy, the quality of the health system, jobs and local industry and a quality education for all children.
Since this issue was last polled in May, health and education have increased in importance (both +5%) and Australian jobs and protection of local industry declined 5%. Comments »
Party best at Handling Issues
Q. And which party would you trust most to handle the following issues?
| Labor | Liberal | Greens | Don’t know | |
| A fair industrial relations system | 45% | 24% | 5% | 26% |
| Ensuring a quality education for all children | 41% | 25% | 4% | 29% |
| Australian jobs and protection of local industries | 42% | 28% | 3% | 27% |
| Ensuring the quality of Australia’s health system | 38% | 27% | 4% | 31% |
| Ensuring a fair taxation system | 36% | 28% | 4% | 32% |
| Housing affordability | 30% | 24% | 4% | 41% |
| Political leadership | 33% | 30% | 5% | 33% |
| Ensuring a quality water supply | 23% | 23% | 22% | 32% |
| Managing population growth | 24% | 27% | 9% | 40% |
| Security and the war on terrorism | 25% | 30% | 3% | 42% |
| Management of the economy | 32% | 38% | 3% | 27% |
| Treatment of asylum seekers | 23% | 29% | 11% | 37% |
| Controlling interest rates | 28% | 35% | 2% | 35% |
| Addressing climate change | 18% | 16% | 36% | 29% |
| Protecting the environment | 17% | 13% | 47% | 23% |
Labor have a substantial lead over the Liberal Party as the best party to handle a fair industrial relations system (+21%), quality education for all (+16%), Australian jobs and protection of industries (+14%) and ensuring the quality of Australia’s health system (+11%).
The Liberal Party’s main strengths were controlling interest rates (+7%), treatment of asylum seekers (+6%) and management of the economy (+6%).
The Greens were thought to be the best party for protecting the environment (47%) and addressing climate change (36%). Comments »
Approval of Tony Abbott
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?
| Malcolm Turnbull | Tony Abbott | ||||||||
| 30 Nov 09 | 14 Dec 09 | 18 Jan 10 | 22 Feb 10 | 29 Mar 10 | 3 May 10 | 31 May 10 | 28 Jun 10 | 5 Jul 10 | |
| Total approve | 25% | 34% | 37% | 45% | 33% | 39% | 35% | 40% | 37% |
| Total disapprove | 55% | 36% | 37% | 36% | 50% | 43% | 50% | 39% | 47% |
| Strongly approve | 2% | 7% | 5% | 12% | 8% | 5% | 5% | 9% | 8% |
| Approve | 23% | 27% | 32% | 33% | 25% | 34% | 30% | 31% | 29% |
| Disapprove | 33% | 18% | 20% | 20% | 28% | 24% | 28% | 20% | 23% |
| Strongly disapprove | 22% | 18% | 17% | 16% | 22% | 19% | 22% | 19% | 24% |
| Don’t know | 19% | 31% | 26% | 18% | 16% | 18% | 16% | 20% | 16% |
Tony Abbott’s net rating as Opposition Leader have dropped back into negative territory over the last week. 37% approve (down 3%) and 47% disapprove (up 8%).
81% of Liberal/National voters approve and 12% disapprove. Labor voters split 15% approve/75% disapprove.
Men split 41% approve/45% disapprove and women 34% approve/48% disapprove. 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%).
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Download this week's ReportEssential Report
Two Party Preferred:
In this week's report:
Essential Tags
Recent Comments
