Better Prime Minister
Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott?
|
Gillard/ Abbott 11 Jun 13 |
|
Rudd/ Abbott 15 Jul
|
Rudd/ Abbott 13 Aug
|
Rudd/ Abbott 26 Aug |
|
Rudd/ Abbott 2 Sep Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Julia Gillard/Kevin Rudd |
39% |
50% |
47% |
43% |
44% |
91% |
5% |
74% |
||
| Tony Abbott |
40% |
35% |
35% |
34% |
38% |
1% |
80% |
6% |
||
| Don’t know |
21% |
15% |
18% |
23% |
18% |
8% |
16% |
20% |
44% (up 1%) believe Kevin Rudd would make the better Prime Minister and 38% (up 4%) prefer Tony Abbott.
Men prefer Kevin Rudd 44%/40% and women prefer Kevin Rudd 44%/37%.
Better Prime Minister
Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott?
|
Gillard/ Abbott 11 Jun 13 |
|
Rudd/ Abbott 15 Jul 13
|
Rudd/ Abbott 13 Aug 13 Total |
|
Rudd/ Abbott 26 Aug 13 Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Julia Gillard/Kevin Rudd |
39% |
50% |
47% |
43% |
89% |
4% |
63% |
||
| Tony Abbott |
40% |
35% |
35% |
34% |
1% |
77% |
6% |
||
| Don’t know |
21% |
15% |
18% |
23% |
10% |
19% |
31% |
43% (down 4%) believe Kevin Rudd would make the better Prime Minister and 34% (down 1%) prefer Tony Abbott.
Men prefer Kevin Rudd 41%/38% and women prefer Kevin Rudd 45%/30%.
Better Prime Minister
Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott?
|
Gillard/ Abbott 11 Jun 13 |
|
Rudd/ Abbott 15 Jul 13
|
|
Rudd/ Abbott 13 Aug 13 Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Julia Gillard/Kevin Rudd |
39% |
50% |
47% |
92% |
7% |
68% |
||
| Tony Abbott |
40% |
35% |
35% |
3% |
76% |
7% |
||
| Don’t know |
21% |
15% |
18% |
5% |
17% |
25% |
47% (down 3%) believe Kevin Rudd would make the better Prime Minister and 35% (no change) prefer Tony Abbott.
Men prefer Kevin Rudd 47%/39% and women prefer Kevin Rudd 47%/30%.
Approach to handling asylum seekers
Q. The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Opposition leader Tony Abbott have both recently made statements about the handling of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat.
Do you think Kevin Rudd’s approach to handling asylum seekers is too harsh, too soft or about right?
Do you think Tony Abbott’s approach to handling asylum seekers is too harsh, too soft or about right?
|
Kevin Rudd |
|
Tony Abbott |
|||||||
|
Total
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
Total
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Too harsh |
20% |
19% |
18% |
49% |
21% |
38% |
5% |
42% |
|
| Too soft |
24% |
12% |
35% |
13% |
20% |
21% |
16% |
21% |
|
| About right |
40% |
53% |
33% |
25% |
31% |
11% |
61% |
7% |
|
| Don’t know |
16% |
16% |
14% |
13% |
27% |
31% |
18% |
30% |
|
40% of respondents think Kevin Rudd’s approach to handling asylum seekers is about right and 31% think Tony Abbott’s approach is about right. Views are similar for both approaches in terms of whether they are too soft or too harsh – about one in five selected each option.
Kevin Rudd’s approach was more favoured by Labor voters (53%), aged 45-64 (45%) and tradespeople (51%). Tony Abbott’s approach was more favoured by Liberal/National voters (61%), men (37%), aged 65+ (46%) and tradespeople (40%).
Best leader of the Liberal Party
Q. Which of the following do you think would make the best leader of the Liberal Party?
|
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
23 Apr 12 |
30 May 11 |
28 Feb 11 |
27 Sep 10 |
| Tony Abbott |
17% |
5% |
36% |
1% |
23% |
22% |
24% |
26% |
||
| Malcolm Turnbull |
37% |
44% |
35% |
51% |
30% |
25% |
18% |
20% |
||
| Joe Hockey |
10% |
9% |
13% |
9% |
14% |
17% |
16% |
15% |
||
| Julie Bishop |
3% |
4% |
3% |
1% |
5% |
3% |
4% |
5% |
||
| Andrew Robb |
* |
* |
* |
– |
1% |
1% |
1% |
na |
||
| Someone else |
12% |
20% |
3% |
13% |
12% |
13% |
14% |
na |
||
| Don’t know |
19% |
19% |
9% |
24% |
16% |
19% |
22% |
33% |
37% (up 7% since April last year) think Malcolm Turnbull would make the best leader of the Liberal Party, 17% (down 6%) prefer Tony Abbott and 10% (down 4%) Joe Hockey.
Among Liberal/National voters, 36% (-3%) prefer Tony Abbott, 35% (+9%) Malcolm Turnbull and 13% (-4%) Joe Hockey.
Malcolm Turnbull is preferred by 39% of men and 36% of women, Tony Abbott by 21% of men and 14% of women.
Approval of Tony Abbott
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?
|
18 |
5 Jul
|
20 Dec |
14 June 11 |
12 Dec |
12 |
10 Dec |
14 |
11 |
11 Mar |
11 Jun |
|
15 Jul |
|
| Total approve |
37% |
37% |
39% |
38% |
32% |
32% |
33% |
33% |
36% |
37% |
40% |
39% |
|
| Total disapprove |
37% |
47% |
39% |
48% |
53% |
54% |
56% |
57% |
53% |
51% |
49% |
51% |
|
| Strongly approve |
5% |
8% |
9% |
6% |
6% |
6% |
8% |
8% |
7% |
7% |
10% |
11% |
|
| Approve |
32% |
29% |
30% |
32% |
26% |
26% |
25% |
25% |
29% |
30% |
30% |
28% |
|
| Disapprove |
20% |
23% |
21% |
25% |
25% |
24% |
25% |
27% |
22% |
22% |
17% |
21% |
|
| Strongly disapprove |
17% |
24% |
18% |
23% |
28% |
30% |
31% |
30% |
31% |
29% |
32% |
30% |
|
| Don’t know |
26% |
16% |
22% |
15% |
14% |
13% |
12% |
10% |
11% |
12% |
11% |
11% |
Tony Abbott’s approval ratings have dropped slightly over the past month. 39% (down 1%) approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader and 51% (up 2%) disapprove – a change in net rating from -9 to -12 over the last 5 weeks.
75% (down 5%) of Coalition voters approve and 14% (up 3%) disapprove.
By gender – men 43% approve/50% disapprove, women 35% approve/51% disapprove. In net terms this represents a shift with men from -3 to -7 and with women from -17 to -16.
Better Prime Minister
Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott?
|
Rudd/ |
Gillard/ Abbott |
Gillard/ Abbott |
|
Rudd/ Abbott |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Julia Gillard/Kevin Rudd |
47% |
53% |
39% |
50% |
94% |
10% |
84% |
|
| Tony Abbott |
30% |
26% |
40% |
35% |
2% |
72% |
6% |
|
| Don’t know |
23% |
21% |
21% |
15% |
3% |
18% |
10% |
50% believe Kevin Rudd would make the better Prime Minister and 35% prefer Tony Abbott.
Men prefer Kevin Rudd 51%/36% and women prefer Kevin Rudd 49%/33%.
Leader attributes – comparisons
|
Rudd |
Abbott |
|
Difference |
|
| Intelligent |
77% |
60% |
+17 |
|
| Visionary |
43% |
26% |
+17 |
|
| A capable leader |
58% |
42% |
+16 |
|
| Good in a crisis |
53% |
38% |
+15 |
|
| Understands the problems facing Australia |
57% |
45% |
+12 |
|
| More honest than most politicians |
41% |
30% |
+11 |
|
| Trustworthy |
42% |
32% |
+10 |
|
| Hard-working |
70% |
65% |
+5 |
|
| Erratic |
45% |
45% |
– |
|
| Superficial |
44% |
47% |
-3 |
|
| Arrogant |
49% |
54% |
-5 |
|
| Aggressive |
43% |
50% |
-7 |
|
| Intolerant |
37% |
46% |
-9 |
|
| Out of touch with ordinary people |
39% |
50% |
-11 |
|
| Narrow-minded |
34% |
55% |
-21 |
Compared to Tony Abbott, Kevin Rudd is much more likely to be considered intelligent (+17), visionary (+17), a capable leader (+16) and good in a crisis (+15).
Tony Abbott is regarded by more respondents to be narrow-minded (-21) and out of touch with ordinary people (-11).
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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