Essential Report
Federal government response to Covid-19
Q. Overall, how would you rate the federal government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak?
25/10 | 11/10 | 27/09 | 13/09 | 30/08 | 16/08 | 02/08 | 19/07 | 05/07 | 07/06 | 24/05 | 12/04 | 15/03 | |
Very poor | 12% | 12% | 12% | 16% | 16% | 13% | 16% | 13% | 12% | 10% | 6% | 7% | 5% |
Quite poor | 19% | 18% | 18% | 20% | 20% | 22% | 19% | 19% | 17% | 14% | 12% | 10% | 7% |
Neither good nor poor | 24% | 25% | 25% | 21% | 24% | 24% | 28% | 23% | 26% | 22% | 25% | 21% | 18% |
Quite good | 32% | 32% | 34% | 28% | 29% | 32% | 28% | 32% | 33% | 38% | 40% | 40% | 39% |
Very good | 14% | 13% | 11% | 15% | 10% | 9% | 10% | 14% | 11% | 15% | 18% | 22% | 31% |
TOTAL: Poor | 31% | 30% | 30% | 35% | 36% | 35% | 35% | 31% | 30% | 24% | 18% | 17% | 12% |
TOTAL: Good | 46% | 45% | 45% | 43% | 39% | 41% | 38% | 46% | 44% | 53% | 58% | 62% | 70% |
Base (n) | 1,781 | 1,097 | 1,094 | 1,100 | 1,100 | 1,100 | 1,098 | 1,100 | 1,099 | 1,104 | 1,100 | 1,368 | 1,124 |
TOTAL: Good | 25/10 | 11/10 | 27/09 | 13/09 | 30/08 | 16/08 | 02/08 | 19/07 | 05/07 | 07/06 | 24/05 | 12/04 | 15/03 |
NSW | 50% | 48% | 48% | 41% | 34% | 34% | 39% | 49% | 44% | 62% | 56% | 66% | 69% |
VIC | 34% | 37% | 39% | 39% | 35% | 37% | 33% | 39% | 40% | 42% | 57% | 55% | 65% |
QLD | 46% | 50% | 44% | 43% | 45% | 44% | 40% | 46% | 48% | 54% | 56% | 63% | 69% |
SA | 52% | 46% | 42% | 54% | 48% | 45% | 48% | 51% | 48% | 58% | 66% | 62% | 78% |
WA | 46% | 49% | 48% | 51% | 51% | 53% | 37% | 51% | 42% | 49% | 56% | 65% | 75% |
- 46% of people rate the federal government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak as quite good or very good (similar to earlier this month), with 31% rating it as quite poor or very poor.
- The only state to record an improvement in positive rating of the federal government’s handling of Covid-19 is South Australia (52% from 46% earlier in October).
State Government response to Covid-19
Q. How would you rate your state government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak?
15/06 | 08/06 | 01/06 | 25/05 | 18/05 | 11/05 | 04/05 | 27/04 | 20/04 | |
Very poor | 4% | 4% | 6% | 4% | 3% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 5% |
Quite poor | 8% | 7% | 6% | 7% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 9% | 9% |
Neither good, nor poor | 17% | 17% | 20% | 17% | 17% | 16% | 18% | 17% | 20% |
Quite good | 38% | 39% | 38% | 38% | 39% | 39% | 38% | 41% | 39% |
Very good | 33% | 32% | 30% | 35% | 33% | 34% | 31% | 30% | 26% |
TOTAL: Poor | 12% | 11% | 12% | 11% | 11% | 12% | 12% | 13% | 14% |
TOTAL: Good | 71% | 71% | 68% | 73% | 72% | 73% | 70% | 70% | 66% |
Base (n) | 1,087 | 1,073 | 1,059 | 1,087 | 1,073 | 1,067 | 1,093 | 1,054 | 1,051 |
State | |||||||
Total | NSW | VIC | QLD | SA | WA | ||
Very poor | 4% | 4% | 6% | 6% | 1% | 3% | |
Quite poor | 8% | 9% | 5% | 12% | 6% | 4% | |
Neither good, nor poor | 17% | 22% | 13% | 15% | 17% | 17% | |
Quite good | 38% | 41% | 39% | 39% | 40% | 28% | |
Very good | 33% | 24% | 36% | 28% | 36% | 49% | |
TOTAL: Poor | 12% | 13% | 11% | 18% | 7% | 6% | |
TOTAL: Good | 71% | 65% | 75% | 67% | 76% | 77% | |
Base (n) | 1,087 | 352 | 275 | 217 | 83 | 107 |
State Government response to Covid-19
Q. How would you rate your state government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak?
20/04 | 13/04 | |
Very poor | 5% | 5% |
Quite poor | 9% | 11% |
Neither good, nor poor | 20% | 20% |
Quite good | 39% | 38% |
Very good | 26% | 23% |
NET: Poor | 14% | 17% |
NET: Good | 66% | 63% |
Base (n) | 1,051 | 1,068 |
State | |||||||
Total | NSW | VIC | QLD | SA | WA | ||
Very poor | 5% | 5% | 6% | 3% | 3% | 4% | |
Quite poor | 9% | 12% | 5% | 11% | 8% | 7% | |
Neither good, nor poor | 20% | 21% | 20% | 23% | 23% | 12% | |
Quite good | 39% | 37% | 38% | 47% | 43% | 34% | |
Very good | 26% | 24% | 32% | 16% | 23% | 43% | |
NET: Poor | 14% | 17% | 11% | 14% | 11% | 11% | |
NET: Good | 66% | 61% | 69% | 63% | 66% | 77% | |
Base (n) | 1,051 | 322 | 275 | 216 | 88 | 106 |
- Nationally, the perception of state governments’ handling of the crisis in in line with government, with 66% rating their own state’s handling as Very/Quite good (compared to 65%).
- In the past week the rating in Queensland has increased from 52% to 63%, while Victoria has fallen from 76% to 69%. Western Australia and Victoria remain the states with the highest rating.

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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