Abbott, Bob Brown, Brown, Gillard, Julia Gillard, kevin rudd, malcolm turnbull, rudd, tony abbott, Turnbull
Q. Has it been a good or bad year for each of the following politicians?
| Total good | Total bad | Very good | Good | Neither good nor bad | Bad | Very bad | Don’t know | |
| Julia Gillard | 49% | 25% | 14% | 35% | 22% | 17% | 8% | 4% |
| Bob Brown | 38% | 21% | 9% | 29% | 28% | 11% | 10% | 13% |
| Tony Abbott | 30% | 33% | 4% | 26% | 32% | 25% | 8% | 6% |
| Malcolm Turnbull | 10% | 43% | 1% | 9% | 35% | 30% | 13% | 11% |
| Kevin Rudd | 10% | 70% | 2% | 8% | 15% | 36% | 34% | 5% |
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |||||
| Total good | Total bad | Total good | Total bad | Total good | Total bad | Total good | Total bad | |
| Julia Gillard | 49% | 25% | 69% | 8% | 36% | 43% | 57% | 17% |
| Bob Brown | 38% | 21% | 40% | 17% | 35% | 31% | 68% | 6% |
| Tony Abbott | 30% | 33% | 19% | 45% | 44% | 21% | 17% | 54% |
| Malcolm Turnbull | 10% | 43% | 6% | 50% | 15% | 42% | 6% | 50% |
| Kevin Rudd | 10% | 70% | 14% | 64% | 8% | 81% | 11% | 73% |
Overall, Julia Gillard (49% good/25% bad) and Bob Brown (38%/21%) are thought to have had a good year. Respondents were divided on whether Tony Abbott has had a good year (30%/33%).
A majority of their own voters thought Julia Gillard (69%) and Bob Brown (68%) have had a good year but only 44% of Liberal/National voters think Tony Abbott has had a good year. There is a substantial gender difference on the assessment of Tony Abbott – men split 37% good/30% bad and women 23% good/36% bad. Comments »
Abbott, Andrew Robb, Election, Hockey, Joe Hockey, Julie Bishop, leadership, Liberal, Liberal Party, malcolm turnbull, Opposition leader, Turnbull
Q. Which of the following do you think would be the best person to lead the Liberal Party at the next election?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Tony Abbott | 23% | 5% | 50% | 5% |
| Malcolm Turnbull | 22% | 27% | 19% | 39% |
| Joe Hockey | 14% | 15% | 15% | 12% |
| Julie Bishop | 6% | 9% | 5% | 7% |
| Andrew Robb | 1% | 1% | 1% | – |
| Someone else | 15% | 22% | 3% | 18% |
| Don’t know | 19% | 21% | 7% | 19% |
23% think Tony Abbott would be the best person to lead the Liberal Party at the next election, 22% prefer Malcolm Turnbull and 14% Joe Hockey.
Among Coalition voters, 50% prefer Tony Abbott, 19% Malcolm Turnbull and 15% Joe Hockey.
Tony Abbott is preferred over Malcolm Turnbull by those aged under 45 22% to 19% but the over 45’s prefer Malcolm Turnbull over Tony Abbott 27% to 25%.
A similar question (although not exactly the same) asked in September showed Tony Abbott with a 26% to 20% lead over Malcolm Turnbull overall and 53% to 15% among Coalition voters. Joe Hockey’s support was 15% in total and 17% among Liberal voters. Comments »
best leader, Joe Hockey, Julie Bishop, Liberal Party, malcolm turnbull, opposition, tony abbott
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.
brendan nelson, john howard, kevin rudd, kim beazley, leaders, malcolm turnbull, mark latham, paul keating, simon crean, tony abbott
Q. From the following list of current and recent leaders of the Liberal/Labor Party – rate each in terms of whether you think they were a good or poor leader of their party.
| Total good | Total poor | Very good | Good | Average | Poor | Very poor | Don’t know | |
| Tony Abbott | 30% | 34% | 7% | 23% | 29% | 14% | 20% | 7% |
| Malcolm Turnbull | 28% | 33% | 6% | 22% | 32% | 20% | 13% | 8% |
| Brendan Nelson | 13% | 44% | 2% | 11% | 33% | 28% | 16% | 11% |
| John Howard | 51% | 26% | 27% | 24% | 18% | 11% | 15% | 5% |
| Kevin Rudd | 38% | 34% | 10% | 28% | 23% | 15% | 19% | 4% |
| Kim Beazley | 29% | 29% | 7% | 22% | 36% | 17% | 12% | 6% |
| Mark Latham | 7% | 62% | 2% | 5% | 23% | 26% | 36% | 8% |
| Simon Crean | 9% | 47% | 2% | 7% | 32% | 29% | 18% | 12% |
| Paul Keating | 40% | 26% | 14% | 26% | 27% | 12% | 14% | 8% |
Overall, John Howard (51% good/26% poor) was considered the best Liberal Party leader of recent times and Paul Keating (40%/26%) the best Labor leader.
However the current leaders – Kevin Rudd (38% good/34% poor) and Tony Abbott (30%/34%) – were both considered better than the leaders they succeeded.
Among Liberal/National voters Tony Abbott was rated good by 63%, compared to John Howard at 86% and Malcolm Turnbull at 37%.
Among Labor voters Kevin Rudd was rated good by 78%, compared to Paul Keating at 58% and Kim Beazley at 40%. 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 »
leadership, Liberal, malcolm turnbull, Turnbull
Q. Do you think Malcolm Turnbull should now resign from Parliament, stay in parliament on the backbench until the next election or challenge for the leadership again before the next election?
| % | |
| Resign | 18% |
| Stay on backbench | 45% |
| Challenge again | 15% |
| Don’t know | 23% |
Just under half (45%) think that Malcolm Turnbull should stay in parliament on the backbench until the next election, 18% think he should resign and 15% think Turnbull should challenge for the leadership again before the next election.
Coalition voters were more likely to think that Turnbull should stay in parliament on the backbench (62%), while Green (28%) and Labor (18%) voters were more likely to think Turnbull should challenge again for the leadership.
Males were more likely to think Turnbull should resign (20%) while females were more likely to indicate that they don’t know what Turnbull should do (29%).
Approval of opposition leader, Liberal, Liberal Party, malcolm turnbull, Turnbull
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.
Andrew Robb, Joe Hockey, Julie Bishop, Liberal, Liberal Party, malcolm turnbull, preferred PM, tony abbott
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%).