Best Leader of Liberal Party
Q. Which of the following do you think would make the best leader of the Liberal Party?
Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens
|
|
Tony Abbott | 26% | 10% | 53% | 2% |
Malcolm Turnbull | 20% | 27% | 15% | 27% |
Joe Hockey | 15% | 15% | 17% | 17% |
Julie Bishop | 5% | 8% | 2% | 10% |
Don’t know | 33% | 41% | 13% | 44% |
26% of people believe that Tony Abbott is the best leader of the Liberal Party. 20% believe Malcolm Turnbull is the best leader of the Liberal Party. 33% don’t know.
27% of Labor voters think that Malcolm Turnbull is the best leader of the Liberal Party. 53% of Lib/Nat voters think that Tony Abbott is the best leader of the Liberal Party. 44% of Green voters don’t know who the best leader of the Liberal Party is.
28% of males, compared with 24% of females think that Tony Abbott is the best leader of the Liberal Party.
42% of females don’t know who the best leader of the Liberal Party is.
38% of those aged 18-24 don’t know who the best leader of the Liberal Party is. 39% of those aged 65+ think that Tony Abbott is the best leader of the Liberal Party.
Liberal Leadership
Q. Does the election of Tony Abbott as leader of the Liberal Party make you more likely or less likely to vote Liberal?
Total | Labor | Coalition | Greens | |
More likely | 21% | 12% | 42% | 5% |
Less likely | 33% | 44% | 15% | 62% |
Much more likely | 9% | 2% | 24% | 2% |
A little more likely | 12% | 10% | 18% | 3% |
A little less likely | 10% | 7% | 12% | 11% |
Much less likely | 23% | 37% | 3% | 51% |
Makes no difference | 39% | 42% | 39% | 32% |
Don’t know | 7% | 2% | 3% | 1% |
39% of people think the election of Tony Abbott as leader of the Liberal Party makes no difference to whether or not they will vote Liberal, 33% think it will make them less likely and 21% more likely to vote Liberal.
42% of Coalition voters think the election of Tony Abbott as leader of the Liberal Party will make them more likely to vote Liberal, 15% think that it will make them less likely and 39% think it will make no difference. 44% of Labor voters and 62% of Green voters think it will make them less likely to vote Liberal.
Females were more likely than males to indicate that the election of Tony Abbott as leader of the Liberal Party will make no difference to their vote (43% v 35%).
Federal Politics – 2PP Voting Intention – 4 Week Trend
NB. The data in the above graph is derived from our weekly first preference voting question. Respondents who select ‘don’t know’ as their first preference are not included in the results.
* Sample is the culmination of two week’s data.
Approval of the Opposition Leader
Q. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Malcolm Turnbull is doing as Opposition Leader?
12 Jan 09 | 9 Feb 09 | 30 Mar 09 | 18 May 09 | 29 Jun 09 | 10 Aug 09 | 28 Sept 09 | 9 Nov 09 | 30 Nov 09 | |
Strongly approve | 4% | 3% | 3% | 2% | 4% | 2% | 3% | 3% | 2% |
Approve | 37% | 29% | 25% | 28% | 20% | 20% | 24% | 26% | 23% |
Disapprove | 21% | 26% | 31% | 28% | 31% | 30% | 35% | 30% | 33% |
Strongly disapprove | 9% | 17% | 17% | 21% | 26% | 28% | 18% | 20% | 22% |
Don’t know | 29% | 24% | 24% | 21% | 19% | 20% | 21% | 20% | 19% |
Total approve | 41% | 32% | 28% | 30% | 24% | 22% | 27% | 29% | 25% |
Total disapprove | 30% | 43% | 48% | 49% | 57% | 58% | 53% | 50% | 55% |
25% of people surveyed approve of the job Malcolm Turnbull is doing as Opposition Leader and 55% disapprove. Turnbull’s approval rating has decreased four percentage points since we last asked this question and his disapproval rating has seen five percent increase.
Approval followed party lines – Coalition voters were more likely to approve (41%), while Labor voters were more likely to disapprove (62%). However, just under half (46%) of Coalition voters disapprove of the job Turnbull is doing as Opposition Leader.
Malcolm Turnbull’s net rating is -30%, compared to -21% earlier this month.
Preferred Liberal Party Leader
Q. Which of the following do you think would make the best leader of the Liberal Party?
6 July 09
Total |
17 Aug 09
Total |
30 November 2009 | ||||
Total | Labor | Coalition | Greens | |||
Joe Hockey | 17% | 16% | 22% | 27% | 28% | 14% |
Malcolm Turnbull | 13% | 12% | 14% | 15% | 20% | 14% |
Tony Abbott | 7% | 7% | 9% | 8% | 13% | 3% |
Julie Bishop | 8% | 6% | 6% | 7% | 5% | 9% |
Andrew Robb | * | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | * |
Someone else | 20% | 24% | 19% | 19% | 14% | 27% |
Don’t know | 32% | 33% | 28% | 22% | 18% | 33% |
* Not asked. Brendan Nelson (3%) and Greg Hunt (1%) were included in the July poll.
22% of people think Joe Hockey would make the best leader of the Liberal Party, 14% prefer Malcolm Turnbull and 9% prefer Tony Abbott. Just under half (47%) do not think that any of those listed would be the best leader of the Liberal Party – 19% prefer someone else as leader and 28% don’t know.
28% of Coalition voters think that Joe Hockey would make the best leader of the Liberal party, 20% of these same voters prefer Malcolm Turnbull and 13% prefer Tony Abbott. Labor voters were more likely to think that Joe Hockey would make the best leader (27%).
Management of Economic Issues
Q. Between Liberal and Labor, which party do you think would be best at managing each of the following issues?
When it comes to which party is best at handling economic issues, Labor leads the Liberal party on managing the improvement of wages for low income earners (+17%), executive salaries (+9%) and the age pension (+9%).
Labor trails the Liberals in terms of managing government debt (-24%), followed by managing interest rates (-9%) and superannuation (-9%).
Perception of which party is best at managing the economic issues listed followed party lines.

COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Essential Report
In this week's report:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Views towards re-electing the federal Coalition government
- Party trust to handle issues
- Importance of Australia’s international reputation
- Scott Morrison’s impact on Australia’s international reputation
- Views towards Australia’s international reputation
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