Gillard, Labor, leadership, Prime Minister, rudd
Q7. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | 15 Feb 10 | ||
| Kevin Rudd | 36% | 56% | 26% | 45% | |
| Julia Gillard | 33% | 30% | 36% | 26% | |
| Don’t know | 31% | 14% | 38% | 29% |
Respondents were fairly evenly split over whether Kevin Rudd (36%) or Julia Gillard (33%) would make the better Prime Minister. This is a substantial change since this question was last asked in February – Julia Gillard up 7% and Kevin Rudd down 9%.
Labor voters preferred Kevin Rudd (56% to 30%) and Liberal voters preferred Julia Gillard (36% to 26%). Greens voters preferred Julia Gillard by 62% to 18%.
Men show greater support for Kevin Rudd (40%/33%) whereas women were evenly divided (32%/34%). Comments »
approval, approval of PM, Labor, rudd
Q. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Kevin Rudd is doing as Prime Minister?
| 30 Mar 09 | 29 Jun 09 | 28 Sept 09 | 30 Nov 09 | 14 Dec 09 | 18 Jan 10 | 22 Feb 10 | 29 Mar 10 | 3 May 10 | 31 May 10 | |
| Strongly approve | 21% | 14% | 15% | 9% | 10% | 11% | 11% | 12% | 8% | 7% |
| Approve | 50% | 48% | 51% | 47% | 47% | 44% | 41% | 41% | 38% | 34% |
| Disapprove | 14% | 18% | 17% | 20% | 20% | 19% | 20% | 22% | 25% | 25% |
| Strongly disapprove | 7% | 9% | 6% | 15% | 12% | 14% | 17% | 14% | 17% | 22% |
| Don’t know | 9% | 11% | 11% | 10% | 10% | 12% | 11% | 12% | 12% | 12% |
| Total approve | 71% | 62% | 66% | 56% | 57% | 55% | 52% | 53% | 46% | 41% |
| Total disapprove | 21% | 29% | 23% | 35% | 32% | 33% | 37% | 36% | 42% | 47% |
Kevin Rudd’s net approval rating has fallen to a net negative for the first time since he became Prime Minister. 41% approve (down 5%) of the job Kevin Rudd is doing as Prime Minister and 47% disapprove (up 5%).
89% of Labor voters approve and 87% of Liberal/National voters disapprove. Greens voters are split 48% approve/45% disapprove.
Younger people are more likely to approve of Kevin Rudd’s performance than older people. Those aged under 35 were net positive (45% approve/33% disapprove) and those aged 55+ strongly negative (31% approve/64% disapprove). Comments »
Opinion of Kevin Rudd an the Labor Party
Q. Would you say that your view of Kevin Rudd and the Labor Government has become more or less favourable in recent weeks?
| Total more favourable | 11% |
| Total less favourable | 58% |
| Much more favourable | 3% |
| A little more favourable | 8% |
| A little less favourable | 25% |
| Much less favourable | 33% |
| No change | 26% |
| Don’t know | 3% |
58% of respondents said their view of Kevin Rudd and the Labor Government had become less favourable over recent weeks and 11% said they had become more favourable.
22% of Labor voters said they had become more favourable and 31% less favourable. Coalition voters split 4% more favourable/81% less favourable and Greens voters 23% more favourable/58% less favourable.
47% of those aged under 35 were less favourable compared to 66% of those aged 45+. Comments »
approval of PM, asylum seekers, climate change, ETS, resources super profits tax, RSPT, rudd
If a little less or much less favourable –
Q. And which of the following would you say has been the main reason for your view of Kevin Rudd and the Labor Government becoming less favourable in recent weeks?
| Not honouring their election commitments | 24% |
| Too much spending | 15% |
| Too soft on asylum seekers | 15% |
| Problems with insulation and school building programs | 13% |
| The 40% tax on mining companies | 12% |
| Postponing introduction of ETS to address climate change | 7% |
| Too tough on asylum seekers | 4% |
| Some other reason | 7% |
| No particular reason | 6% |
Sample size = 642
Of those who had a less favourable view of Kevin Rudd and the Labor Government, 24% said their main reason was not honouring their election commitments, 15% too much spending and 15% thought the Government was too soft on asylum seekers.
Among Labor voters the main reasons were not honouring election commitments (30%) and problems with the insulation and school building programs (14%).
For Coalition voters the main reasons were not honouring election commitments (27%), the 40% tax on mining companies (18%) and too much spending (17%).
For Greens voters the main reasons were postponing the introduction of the ETS (34%) and problems with then insulation and school building programs (16%). Comments »
Abbott, Approval of opposition leader, approval of PM, Prime Minister, rudd, trust in leaders
Q. Do you think the Opposition leader Tony Abbott is more or less trustworthy than the average Australian political leader?Q. And do you think the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is more or less trustworthy than the average Australian political leader?
| Tony Abbott | Kevin Rudd | |
| Total more trustworthy | 20% | 19% |
| Total less trustworthy | 32% | 34% |
| A lot more trustworthy | 8% | 4% |
| A little more trustworthy | 12% | 15% |
| About the same | 40% | 41% |
| A little less trustworthy | 10% | 13% |
| A lot less trustworthy | 22% | 21% |
| Don’t know | 9% | 5% |
Perceptions of trustworthiness were similar for the two leaders – both net negative.
20% believe Tony Abbott to be more trustworthy than the average compared to 32% less trustworthy. For Kevin Rudd the results were 19% more trustworthy and 34% less trustworthy.
47% of Coalition voters think Tony Abbott is more trustworthy and 56% of Labor voters think he is less trustworthy. For Kevin Rudd 40% of Labor voters think he is more trustworthy and 69% of Coalition voters think he is less trustworthy.
Greens voters tend to think Tony Abbott is less trustworthy (55%) and are split on Kevin Rudd (24% more/25% less). Comments »
budget, economy, Labor, Prime Minister, rudd
Q. Do you think that with this Budget, the Government has done enough to reduce the deficit and return the budget to surplus in the next few years?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Liberal/ National | |
| Has done enough | 31% | 59% | 12% |
| Hasn’t done enough | 39% | 16% | 69% |
| Don’t know | 31% | 26% | 20% |
31% think that the Government has done enough to reduce the deficit and 39% think they have not done enough. Responses mostly followed party preferences – 59% of Labor voters think they have done enough and 69% of Coalition voters think they have not done enough. Greens voters split 40% enough/31% not enough. Comments »
approval of PM, leader, leader attributes, leadership, Prime Minister, rudd
Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd?
| 29 June 09 | 7 Dec 09 | 10 May 10 | Change | |
| Intelligent | 84% | 82% | 73% | -9% |
| Hard-working | 83% | 77% | 76% | -1% |
| A capable leader | 72% | 69% | 55% | -14% |
| Demanding | 67% | 60% | 69% | +9% |
| Arrogant | 46% | 49% | 57% | +8% |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 41% | 45% | 55% | +10% |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 67% | 59% | 53% | -6% |
| Visionary | 49% | 48% | 37% | -11% |
| Superficial | 40% | 41% | 52% | +11% |
| Good in a crisis | 60% | 58% | 44% | -14% |
| Narrow-minded | 32% | 36% | 43% | +7% |
| Down to earth | 56% | 55% | 47% | -8% |
| Too inflexible | 32% | 38% | 45% | +7% |
| Complacent | 28% | 38% | 38% | – |
| More honest than most politicians | 47% | 49% | 39% | -10% |
| Trustworthy | * | 51% | 41% | -10% |
*Not asked in June 2009
Most people consider Rudd hard working (76%), intelligent (73%) and demanding (69%).
Since this question was last asked in December 2009, Kevin Rudd has lost points on most positive qualities including being a capable leader
(-14%), good in a crisis (-14%), visionary (-11%) and trustworthy (-10%). His ratings have increased significantly in terms of being superficial (+11) and out of touch with ordinary people (+10%). Comments »
Abbott, leader attributes, preferred PM, Prime Minister, rudd
Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott?
| Kevin Rudd | Tony Abbott | Difference | |
| Intelligent | 73% | 72% | +1% |
| Hard-working | 76% | 71% | +5% |
| A capable leader | 55% | 50% | +5% |
| Demanding | 69% | 52% | +17% |
| Arrogant | 57% | 54% | +3% |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 55% | 51% | +4% |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 53% | 49% | +4% |
| Visionary | 37% | 35% | +2% |
| Superficial | 52% | 44% | +8% |
| Good in a crisis | 44% | 40% | +4% |
| Narrow-minded | 43% | 53% | -10% |
| Down to earth | 47% | 50% | -3% |
| Too inflexible | 45% | 47% | -2% |
| Complacent | 38% | 30% | -8% |
| More honest than most politicians | 39% | 33% | +6% |
| Trustworthy | 41% | 39% | +2% |
Kevin Rudd has only slightly better ratings than Tony Abbott across key positive attributes such as hard-working (+5%), a capable leader (+5%) and trustworthy (+2%).
The main differences were that Kevin Rudd is perceived as more demanding (69%/52%), less narrow-minded (43%/53%), more superficial (52%/44%) and more complacent (38%/30%). Comments »