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

43% (up 3%) believe Julia Gillard would make the better Prime Minister and 36% (down 1%) prefer Tony Abbott.

Men are evenly split (at 40% each) and women prefer Julia Gillard 47%/33%. Compared to last month’s figures, Julia Gillard’s margin over Tony Abbott has changed 8 points in her favour among men (from 36%/44%) but is unchanged among women (from 44%/30%).

Compared to Abbott, Gillard is seen as more intelligent (+6%), a more capable leader (+6%) and good in a crisis (+8%).

Abbott is regarded by significantly more respondents to be arrogant (+17%), narrow minded (+13%), intolerant (+16%) and aggressive (+17%).

Since the last time the question was polled, Gillard has narrowed the gap on ‘out of touch with ordinary people’ (moving from +11% in April compared to Abbott to -1% this week) as well as ‘understands the problem facing Australia’ (-8% in April 2012 to equal with Abbott this month).

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

Forty percent (40%) of respondents believe that Julia Gillard would make a better Prime Minister than Tony Abbott, up 4% from the last time the question was polled in August 2012.   Gillard has resumed the lead on Abbott as preferred Prime Minister, having dropped behind him after April 2012.

There was little change in favour of Abbott, with belief that Abbott would make a better Prime Minister changing just 1% from last month, down to 37%.

This week’s figures are fairly consistent with the results from the beginning of the year (39% in favour of Gillard, 36% in favour of Abbott).

Over the two years since July 2010, belief that Gillard would make a better Prime Minister has dropped 10 points from 50% to 40%, whilst belief that Abbott would make a better Prime Minister has equally increased 10 points from 27% to 37%.

Female respondents were more likely to regard Gillard as the better Prime Minister (44% Gillard / 30% Abbott) whereas male respondents were more likely to regard Abbott as the better Prime Minister (36% Gillard / 44% Abbott).

Q. If they won the next election, how likely do you think it would be that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices?

Respondents were a little less likely to think that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices than when a similar question was asked in July. 51% (down 2%) think it is likely that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices if they won the next election and 25% (up 3%) think it is unlikely.

74% of Labor voters and 68% of Greens voters think it is likely, while Liberal/National voters are split 33% likely (down 7%) to 43% unlikely (up 9%).

The PM is going to be chatting live on-line today at News.com, focused on the question of rising power prices. This should be a pretty straightforward issue, with facts guiding the discussion. But, The Empty Suit, Leader of the Coalition, is trying to muddle the issue…and who can blame him? He’s rolled the dice trying to scare the entire nation about the carbon tax — which is proving to be a non-event.

Yes, prices of electricity are going up. But, it’s pretty clear this has virtually nothing to do with the carbon tax.

Here is a pretty simple explanation from the PM, as a curtain-raiser to her on-line talk:

First, the states who own electricity network businesses are doing well out of it.

Take New South Wales: separate to carbon pricing, there’s been a 70 per cent increase in prices over four years. And there’s been a 60 per cent increase in the dividends that the NSW Government gets.

Second, meeting peak power costs too much. One quarter of your electricity bill, more than $500 a year for a typical family, is spent to meet the costs of peak events that last for less than two days each year in total. It’s like building a ten-lane freeway, but with two lanes that are only used or needed for one long weekend.

Third, customers need more choice. The states should sign up to the National Energy Customer Framework, with strong protections when people can’t pay their electricity bills and extra information to help customers get the best energy deal.

And finally, I am pushing for the whole electricity system to operate more efficiently and more effectively. I’d rather do this with the states. We’ll only use the big stick of stronger powers for the Energy Regulator and the ACCC if we have to.

In other words, it’s the electricity generating companies who are trying to sock us with costs for building up new capacity. In Queensland and Victoria, the power companies have not invested in new capacity since 1998 — and, as the PM points out, they now need to do so largely to absorb peak power needs for just a few days a year. That has zero to do with the carbon tax. None. Nada.

The Empty Suit, though, is in a real box. He has staked a huge part of his campaign on the “sky is falling” results from the carbon tax. So, when you listen to what he says now, pay very little attention because it’s not based on the real facts on the reason for the rise in electricity prices.

— Jonathan Tasini
@jonathantasini

Q. If they won the next election, how likely do you think it would be that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices?

Respondents were a little more likely to think that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices than when a similar question was asked last year. 53% (up 2%) think it is likely that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices if they won the next election and 22% (down 5%) think it is unlikely.

78% of Labor voters and 55% of Greens voters think it is likely, while Liberal/National voters are split 40% likely (up 7%) to 34% unlikely (down 10%).

Q. Do you think Australian workers would be better off or worse off under a Liberal Government lead by Tony Abbott?

32% think that Australian workers would be better off under a Liberal Government lead by Tony Abbott and 37% think they would be worse off – and 19% think it would make no difference.

Full-time workers split 35% better off and 34% worse off while part-time workers were more likely to think workers would be worse off (40% worse off/27% better off).

43% of respondents aged 45-64 think workers would be worse off and 31% better off. 40% of those earning under $1,000 pw thought workers would be worse off and 33% better off.

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

Tony Abbott’s approval rating has improved a little over the last month. 35% (up 3%) approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader and 53% (down 1%) disapprove – a change in net rating from -22 to -18 over the last 5 weeks.

67% (no change) of Coalition voters approve and 26% (up 4%) disapprove.

By gender – men 38% approve/53% disapprove, women 32% approve/53% disapprove.