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  • Nov, 2010

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    Liberal Party Leadership

    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 »

  • Sep, 2010

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    Approval of Tony Abbott

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?

    18 Jan 22 Feb 29 Mar 3 May 31 May 5 Jul 2 Aug 16 Aug 20 Sep


    Total approve 37% 45% 33% 39% 35% 37% 38% 41% 43%
    Total disapprove 37% 36% 50% 43% 50% 47% 48% 44% 37%
    Strongly approve 5% 12% 8% 5% 5% 8% 8% 9% 12%
    Approve 32% 33% 25% 34% 30% 29% 30% 32% 31%
    Disapprove 20% 20% 28% 24% 28% 23% 27% 22% 21%
    Strongly disapprove 17% 16% 22% 19% 22% 24% 21% 22% 16%
    Don’t know 26% 18% 16% 18% 16% 16% 14% 15% 19%

    43% approve Tony Abbott’s performance as Opposition Leader and 37% disapprove. Since this question was asked last month, approval has increased by 2% and disapproval decreased by 7%. 79% of Liberal/National voters approve and 7% disapprove. Among Labor voters, 18% approve and 67% disapprove.

    By gender – men 48% approve/37% disapprove and women 37% approve/38% disapprove.

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  • Dec, 2009

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    Approval of the Opposition Leader

    Q. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?

    Malcolm Turnbull Tony Abbott
    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 14 Dec 09
    Strongly approve 4% 3% 3% 2% 4% 2% 3% 3% 2% 7%
    Approve 37% 29% 25% 28% 20% 20% 24% 26% 23% 27%
    Disapprove 21% 26% 31% 28% 31% 30% 35% 30% 33% 18%
    Strongly disapprove 9% 17% 17% 21% 26% 28% 18% 20% 22% 18%
    Don’t know 29% 24% 24% 21% 19% 20% 21% 20% 19% 31%
    Total approve 41% 32% 28% 30% 24% 22% 27% 29% 25% 34%
    Total disapprove 30% 43% 48% 49% 57% 58% 53% 50% 55% 36%

    34% of respondents approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader, 36% disapprove and 31% don’t know.

    Perception followed party lines – Coalition voters were more likely to approve of the job Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader (65%) while Labor voters were more likely to disapprove (55%).   15% of Coalition voters disapprove of the job Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader.

    Abbott’s approval rating is nine percentage points higher than the score Turnbull received right before he was replaced as Opposition Leader.    However, Turnbull’s approval rating when he took on the leadership role in September 2009 was 36% and his disapproval rating was 30%.  This is a slightly better result than that scored by Abbott after his succession to the leadership position.

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