The Essential Report Archive Read the latest report
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Abbott, Bob Brown, Brown, Gillard, Julia Gillard, kevin rudd, malcolm turnbull, rudd, tony abbott, Turnbull
The Past Year – Politicians
Q. Has it been a good or bad year for each of the following politicians?
Total good Total bad Very good Good Neither good nor bad Bad Very bad Don’t know Julia Gillard 49% 25% 14% 35% 22% 17% 8% 4% Bob Brown 38% 21% 9% 29% 28% 11% 10% 13% Tony Abbott 30% 33% 4% 26% 32% 25% 8% 6% Malcolm Turnbull 10% 43% 1% 9% 35% 30% 13% 11% Kevin Rudd 10% 70% 2% 8% 15% 36% 34% 5% Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Total good Total bad Total good Total bad Total good Total bad Total good Total bad Julia Gillard 49% 25% 69% 8% 36% 43% 57% 17% Bob Brown 38% 21% 40% 17% 35% 31% 68% 6% Tony Abbott 30% 33% 19% 45% 44% 21% 17% 54% Malcolm Turnbull 10% 43% 6% 50% 15% 42% 6% 50% Kevin Rudd 10% 70% 14% 64% 8% 81% 11% 73% Overall, Julia Gillard (49% good/25% bad) and Bob Brown (38%/21%) are thought to have had a good year. Respondents were divided on whether Tony Abbott has had a good year (30%/33%).
A majority of their own voters thought Julia Gillard (69%) and Bob Brown (68%) have had a good year but only 44% of Liberal/National voters think Tony Abbott has had a good year. There is a substantial gender difference on the assessment of Tony Abbott – men split 37% good/30% bad and women 23% good/36% bad. Comments »
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Abbott, Andrew Robb, Election, Hockey, Joe Hockey, Julie Bishop, leadership, Liberal, Liberal Party, malcolm turnbull, Opposition leader, Turnbull
Liberal Party Leadership
Q. Which of the following do you think would be the best person to lead the Liberal Party at the next election?
Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Tony Abbott 23% 5% 50% 5% Malcolm Turnbull 22% 27% 19% 39% Joe Hockey 14% 15% 15% 12% Julie Bishop 6% 9% 5% 7% Andrew Robb 1% 1% 1% – Someone else 15% 22% 3% 18% Don’t know 19% 21% 7% 19% 23% think Tony Abbott would be the best person to lead the Liberal Party at the next election, 22% prefer Malcolm Turnbull and 14% Joe Hockey.
Among Coalition voters, 50% prefer Tony Abbott, 19% Malcolm Turnbull and 15% Joe Hockey.
Tony Abbott is preferred over Malcolm Turnbull by those aged under 45 22% to 19% but the over 45’s prefer Malcolm Turnbull over Tony Abbott 27% to 25%.
A similar question (although not exactly the same) asked in September showed Tony Abbott with a 26% to 20% lead over Malcolm Turnbull overall and 53% to 15% among Coalition voters. Joe Hockey’s support was 15% in total and 17% among Liberal voters. Comments »
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Abbott, Approval of opposition leader, Turnbull
Approval of Tony Abbott
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?
Malcolm Turnbull Tony Abbott 30 Nov 09 14 Dec 09 18 Jan 10 22 Feb 10 29 Mar 10 3 May 10 31 May 10 28 Jun 10 5 Jul 10 19 Jul 10 Total approve 25% 34% 37% 45% 33% 39% 35% 40% 37% 40% Total disapprove 55% 36% 37% 36% 50% 43% 50% 39% 47% 44% Strongly approve 2% 7% 5% 12% 8% 5% 5% 9% 8% 6% Approve 23% 27% 32% 33% 25% 34% 30% 31% 29% 34% Disapprove 33% 18% 20% 20% 28% 24% 28% 20% 23% 22% Strongly disapprove 22% 18% 17% 16% 22% 19% 22% 19% 24% 22% Don’t know 19% 31% 26% 18% 16% 18% 16% 20% 16% 16% 40% approve Tony Abbott’s performance as Opposition Leader and 44% disapprove. Since this question was asked 2 weeks ago, approval has increased by 3% and disapproval decreased by 3%. 82% of Liberal/National voters approve and 10% disapprove. Among Labor voters, 19% approve and 69% disapprove.
There were some differences by gender – men 45% approve/43% disapprove and women 35% approve/46% disapprove. Comments »
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Abbott, approval, Approval of opposition leader, malcolm turnbull, Turnbull
Approval of the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott
Q. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?
Malcolm Turnbull Tony Abbott 9 Feb 09 30 Mar 09 18 May 09 29 Jun 09 10 Aug 09 28 Sept 09 9 Nov 09 30 Nov 09 14 Dec 09 18 Jan 10 22 Feb 10 Strongly approve 3% 3% 2% 4% 2% 3% 3% 2% 7% 5% 12% Approve 29% 25% 28% 20% 20% 24% 26% 23% 27% 32% 33% Disapprove 26% 31% 28% 31% 30% 35% 30% 33% 18% 20% 20% Strongly disapprove 17% 17% 21% 26% 28% 18% 20% 22% 18% 17% 16% Don’t know 24% 24% 21% 19% 20% 21% 20% 19% 31% 26% 18% Total approve 32% 28% 30% 24% 22% 27% 29% 25% 34% 37% 45% Total disapprove 43% 48% 49% 57% 58% 53% 50% 55% 36% 37% 36% Just under half (45%) of those surveyed approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader, 36% disapprove and 18% don’t know. This gives Tony Abbott a net approval rating of +9%.
This is the highest approval rating that has been recorded for Abbott in the Essential Report thus far and higher than Turnbull ever scored in our polling.
Results followed party lines – Coalition voters were more likely to approve of the job Abbott is doing (79%), while Labor voters were more likely to disapprove (58%). 28% of Labor voters approve of the job Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader.
68% of Green voters disapprove of the job Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader and 19% of these same voters approve.
People aged 65 years and over were more likely to approve of the job Abbott is doing (68%), while younger voters were more likely to indicate they don’t know (37%).
Males were more likely than females to approve of the job Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader (47% v 43%). Comments »
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leadership, Liberal, malcolm turnbull, Turnbull
Malcolm Turnbull’s Future Political Career
Q. Do you think Malcolm Turnbull should now resign from Parliament, stay in parliament on the backbench until the next election or challenge for the leadership again before the next election?
% Resign 18% Stay on backbench 45% Challenge again 15% Don’t know 23% Just under half (45%) think that Malcolm Turnbull should stay in parliament on the backbench until the next election, 18% think he should resign and 15% think Turnbull should challenge for the leadership again before the next election.
Coalition voters were more likely to think that Turnbull should stay in parliament on the backbench (62%), while Green (28%) and Labor (18%) voters were more likely to think Turnbull should challenge again for the leadership.
Males were more likely to think Turnbull should resign (20%) while females were more likely to indicate that they don’t know what Turnbull should do (29%).
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Approval of opposition leader, Liberal, Liberal Party, malcolm turnbull, Turnbull
Approval of the Opposition Leader
Q. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Malcolm Turnbull is doing as Opposition Leader?
12 Jan 09 9 Feb 09 30 Mar 09 18 May 09 29 Jun 09 10 Aug 09 28 Sept 09 9 Nov 09 30 Nov 09 Strongly approve 4% 3% 3% 2% 4% 2% 3% 3% 2% Approve 37% 29% 25% 28% 20% 20% 24% 26% 23% Disapprove 21% 26% 31% 28% 31% 30% 35% 30% 33% Strongly disapprove 9% 17% 17% 21% 26% 28% 18% 20% 22% Don’t know 29% 24% 24% 21% 19% 20% 21% 20% 19% Total approve 41% 32% 28% 30% 24% 22% 27% 29% 25% Total disapprove 30% 43% 48% 49% 57% 58% 53% 50% 55% 25% of people surveyed approve of the job Malcolm Turnbull is doing as Opposition Leader and 55% disapprove. Turnbull’s approval rating has decreased four percentage points since we last asked this question and his disapproval rating has seen five percent increase.
Approval followed party lines – Coalition voters were more likely to approve (41%), while Labor voters were more likely to disapprove (62%). However, just under half (46%) of Coalition voters disapprove of the job Turnbull is doing as Opposition Leader.
Malcolm Turnbull’s net rating is -30%, compared to -21% earlier this month.
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Approval of opposition leader, EMC, ER, essential report, malcolm turnbull, opinion of opposition leader, opinion on opposition leader, Turnbull
Approval of the Opposition Leader
Q. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Malcolm Turnbull is doing as Opposition Leader?
29% of people surveyed approve of the job Malcolm Turnbull is doing as Opposition Leader and 50% disapprove. Turnbull’s approval rating has increased slightly since we last asked this question (+2%), and his disapproval rating has seen a slight decrease (-3%).
Approval followed party lines – Coalition voters were more likely to approve (56%), while Labor voters were more likely to disapprove (70%). 28% of Coalition voters disapprove of the job Turnbull is doing as Opposition Leader.
Malcolm Turnbull’s net rating of -21% is a 5 point improvement on the September result and his best result since May.
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Liberal, malcolm turnbull, opinion of opposition leader, opinion on opposition leader, Turnbull
Turnbull as Leader of the Opposition
Q. Which statement do you think most accurately reflects Malcolm Turnbull’s time as leader of the Opposition?
More than half (58%) of people surveyed think that Turnbull has shown he hasn’t got the temperament, patience and judgement to be a leader of a major party. 42% think that despite all the criticism, Turnbull is capable of being the leader of the Opposition and given more time to develop his skills and experience, he could be a good leader of Australia.
Results reflected party lines – Labor voters were more likely to think that Turnbull hasn’t got the temperament to be a leader of a major party (78%), while Coalition voters were more likely to think Turnbull is capable of being leader, and given more time to develop his skills and experience, he could be a good leader (68%). However, a significant number of Coalition voters think that Turnbull hasn’t got what it takes to be a leader of a major party (32%).
People aged 55 years and over were more likely to think that Turnbull is capable of being a good leader, he just needs more time (50%), while respondents aged 25 -34 were more likely to think Turnbull hasn’t got what it takes to be a leader of a major party (69%).