Australia’s Best Prime Minister
Q. Choosing from the following list, who do you think has been Australia’s best Prime Minister?
| Term of office | Total
19 Jan 2009 |
Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Aged 18-34 | Aged 35-54 | Aged 55+ | |
| John Curtin | 7 Oct 1941 – 5 Jul 1945 | 4% | 2% | 4% | 1% | 3% | 1% | 2% | 3% |
| Ben Chifley | 13 Jul 1945 – 19 Dec 1949 | 2% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 3% |
| Robert Menzies | 19 Dec 1949 – 26 Jan 1966 | 11% | 11% | 4% | 18% | 4% | 4% | 8% | 21% |
| Harold Holt | 26 Jan 1966 – 19 Dec 1967 | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | – | 1% | 1% | – |
| John Gorton | 10 Jan 1968 – 10 Mar1971 | 1% | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| William McMahon | 10 Mar 1971 – 5 Dec 1972 | 1% | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Gough Whitlam | 5 Dec 1972 – 11 Nov 1975 | 9% | 9% | 15% | 1% | 18% | 8% | 9% | 10% |
| Malcolm Fraser | 11 Nov 1975 – 11 Mar 1983 | 3% | 3% | 1% | 3% | 6% | – | 3% | 6% |
| Bob Hawke | 11 Mar 1983 – 20 Dec 1991 | 12% | 15% | 23% | 5% | 22% | 12% | 21% | 10% |
| Paul Keating | 20 Dec 1991 – 11 Mar 1996 | 8% | 6% | 12% | 2% | 10% | 7% | 6% | 4% |
| John Howard | 11 Mar 1996 – 3 Dec 2007 | 28% | 33% | 8% | 61% | 5% | 33% | 31% | 35% |
| Kevin Rudd | 3 Dec 2007 – 24 Jun 2010 | 20% | 15% | 21% | 6% | 27% | 25% | 15% | 6% |
| Julia Gillard | 24 Jun 2010 – present | na | 3% | 8% | – | 4% | 6% | 2% | 2% |
Note: Percentages based on those who gave an answer.
33% thought that John Howard has been Australia’s best Prime Minister, 15% chose Kevin Rudd and 15% Bob Hawke.
Among Liberal/National voters, 61% chose John Howard and 18% Robert Menzies. With 23%, Bob Hawke received the highest rating from Labor voters, just ahead of Kevin Rudd on 21% with Gough Whitlam on 15%. Greens voters favoured Kevin Rudd (27%) and Bob Hawke (22%).
While John Howard received similar scores across age groups, the 18-34 group were more likely to favour Kevin Rudd (25%), the 35-54’s Bob Hawke (21%) and the 55+ group Robert Menzies (21%). Compared to the results when this question was asked 3 years ago (when Kevin Rudd was Prime Minister), John Howard (+5%) and Bob Hawke (+3%) have improved their ratings while Kevin Rudd’s has dropped 5%.
Opinion of Leaders
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 »
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:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Top Federal Government priorities for 2021
- Uptake of a Covid-19 vaccine
- Perceptions of change in the standard of living for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- Changing views towards Australia Day
- Support towards a separate national day
Essential Tags
Recent Comments
