The Essential Report Archive Read the latest report

  • Sep, 2015

    ,

    Better Prime Minister

    Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten?

      Total   Vote Lab Vote Lib/
    Nat
    Vote Grn Vote Other   Oct 2013 June 2014 Dec 2014 Mar 2015 Jun 2015 Jul 2015 Aug 2015
    Tony Abbott 32% 3% 77% 2% 21% 41% 36% 31% 33% 38% 37% 36%
    Bill Shorten 35% 72% 5% 60% 23% 22% 40% 36% 37% 33% 30% 32%
    Don’t know 32% 25% 17% 39% 56% 37% 24% 33% 30% 29% 33% 31%

    32% (down 4% since July) of respondents think Tony Abbott would make the better Prime Minister and 35% (up 3%) think Bill Shorten would make the better Prime Minister.

    Women increasingly prefer Bill Shorten (35% up from 32% in July). Women are less likely to prefer Tony Abbot than in July (29% down from 36% in July).

    35% of men prefer Tony Abbott and 36% prefer Bill Shorten.

    Tony Abbott is the preferred PM in NSW (37% compared to 29% from Bill Shorten), but Bill Shorten is preferred in QLD (33% compared to 30%) and VIC (39% compared to 32%).

  • Mar, 2015

    Tony Abbott leader at next election

    Q. Do you think Tony Abbott is likely or unlikely to still be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election?

      Total   Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Vote other   Total Dec 2014 Total Feb 2015
    Likely 26% 11% 52% 8% 22% 29% 20%
    Unlikely 57% 79% 29% 82% 55% 51% 61%
    Don’t know 17% 9% 19% 10% 23% 20% 19%

    57% (down 4% since February) think that Tony Abbott is unlikely to still be leader of the Liberal Party at the next election and 26% (up 6%) think it is likely.

    79% (no change) of Labor voters and 82% (up 12%) of Greens voters think it is unlikely and 52% (up 16%) of Liberal/National voters think it is likely he will still be leader.

  • Dec, 2014

    ,

    Tony Abbott leader at next election

    Q. Do you think Tony Abbott is likely or unlikely to still be the leader of the Liberal Party at the next election?

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote other

    Likely

    29%

    16%

    50%

    19%

    29%

    Unlikely

    51%

    72%

    29%

    68%

    60%

    Don’t know

    20%

    12%

    21%

    13%

    11%

    51% think that Tony Abbott is unlikely to still be leader of the Liberal Party at the next election and 29% think it is likely.

    72% of Labor voters and 68% of Greens voters think it is unlikely and 50% of Liberal/National voters think it is likely he will still be leader.

  • Nov, 2014

    ,

    Prime Minister’s performance at G20

    Q. How would you rate the Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s performance at the G20?

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote Other

    Total good

    31%

    11%

    67%

    4%

    15%

    Total poor

    37%

    59%

    6%

    75%

    46%

    Very good

    9%

    2%

    22%

    6%

    Good

    22%

    9%

    45%

    4%

    9%

    Neither good nor poor

    24%

    23%

    21%

    20%

    31%

    Poor

    13%

    19%

    6%

    17%

    15%

    Very poor

    24%

    40%

    *

    58%

    31%

    Don’t know

    9%

    7%

    5%

    1%

    9%

    31% think that Tony Abbott’s performance at the G20 was good and 37% think it was poor – 24% think it was neither good nor poor.

    Those most likely to rate his performance good were Liberal/National voters (67%) and respondents aged 65+ (52%).

  • Aug, 2014

    , ,

    Better Prime Minister

    Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten? 

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/  Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote Other

     

    22 Oct 2013

    14 Jan 

    11 Feb

    11 Mar

    8 April

    13 May

    11 June

    8 July

    Tony Abbott

    37%

    6%

    84%

    6%

    22%

    41%

    42%

    40%

    39%

    42%

    36%

    36%

    34%

    Bill Shorten

    36%

    73%

    2%

    55%

    31%

    22%

    31%

    30%

    33%

    32%

    37%

    40%

    37%

    Don’t know

    27%

    22%

    14%

    39%

    47%

    37%

    27%

    31%

    28%

    26%

    28%

    24%

    29%

    37% (up 3% since July) of respondents think Tony Abbott would make the better Prime Minister and 36% (down 1%) think Bill Shorten would make the better Prime Minister.

    Men prefer Tony Abbott 42% to 35% and women prefer Bill Shorten 36% to 33%.

  • Jul, 2014

    , ,

    Approval of Tony Abbott

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

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/
    Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote Other

     

    Tony Abbott as Opp. Leader

    2 Sep 13

    Tony Abbott as PM

    24 Sep

    14 Jan 2014

    11 Mar

    13 May

    11 June

    Total approve

    34%

    6%

    77%

    4%

    26%

     

    40%

    41%

    47%

    40%

    35%

    35%

    Total disapprove

    58%

    89%

    16%

    90%

    69%

     

    49%

    36%

    43%

    47%

    55%

    58%

    Strongly approve

    8%

    2%

    20%

    4%

    2%

    13%

    14%

    13%

    11%

    12%

    10%

    Approve

    26%

    4%

    57%

    24%

    27%

    27%

    34%

    29%

    23%

    25%

    Disapprove

    22%

    25%

    12%

    23%

    35%

    19%

    13%

    18%

    20%

    18%

    18%

    Strongly disapprove

    36%

    64%

    4%

    67%

    34%

    30%

    23%

    25%

    27%

    37%

    40%

    Don’t know

    7%

    4%

    7%

    5%

    5%

    10%

    23%

    11%

    12%

    10%

    7%

    58% of respondents disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Prime Minister – no change since the last time this question was asked in June – and 34% approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing (down 1%).

    77% (down 5%) of Liberal/National voters approve of Tony Abbott’s performance, with 16% (up 4%) disapproving. 89% of Labor voters and 90% of Greens voters disapprove of Tony Abbott’s performance.

    By gender men were 36% approve/59% disapprove and women 32% approve/58% disapprove.

  • Jun, 2014

    , , ,

    Trust in Tony Abbott representing Australia

    Q. How much trust do you have in Tony Abbott and the Liberal Government to handle Australia’s international relations? 

     

     Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote other

     

    26 Nov 13

    Total a lot/some

    35%

    8%

    81%

    11%

    25%

    41%

    Total little/no trust

    59%

    88%

    19%

    87%

    71%

    53%

    A lot of trust

    17%

    3%

    45%

    1%

    7%

    20%

    Some trust

    18%

    5%

    36%

    10%

    18%

    21%

    A little trust

    16%

    16%

    14%

    12%

    28%

    18%

    No trust

    43%

    72%

    5%

    75%

    43%

    35%

    Don’t know

    5%

    5%

    1%

    1%

    4%

    7%

    17% of people have “a lot of trust” in Tony Abbott and the Liberal Government to handle Australia’s international relations.

    43% have no trust.

    Labor (72%) and Greens (75%) voters were far more likely to have ‘no trust’. Liberal/National voters were far less likely (5%) to have no trust. 45% of Liberal/National voters have “a lot of trust”.

    Since this question was asked in November, those saying they have a lot or some trust has declined by 6% and those saying they have no trust increased by 8%.

  • Jun, 2014

    , , ,

    Tony Abbott representing Australia

    Q. When you think of Tony Abbott representing Australia at international conferences and meetings, how confident are you that he will do a good job in representing Australia to the international community? 

     

     Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote other

     

    Kevin Rudd

    5 Oct 09

    Total very/somewhat confident

    45%

    15%

    91%

    14%

    44%

    74%

    Very confident

    18%

    3%

    46%

    2%

    6%

    31%

    Somewhat confident

    27%

    12%

    45%

    12%

    38%

    43%

    Not at all confident

    50%

    81%

    8%

    85%

    54%

    18%

    Don’t know

    5%

    %

    1%

    1%

    2%

    8%

    45% say they are very or somewhat confident that Tony Abbott will do a good job in representing Australia to the international community and 50% say they are not at all confident.

    When this question was asked about Kevin Rudd in 2009, 74% said they were very/somewhat confident and only 18% said they were not at all confident.

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