Opposition leader Brendan Nelson has clocked up his second 9% in a week. Morgan polling shows that just 9% of voters say he would be a better PM than Kevin Rudd.
He gets a third disappointing third nine per cent, too. Only 9% of voters believe he should lead the Coalition to the next election. Malcolm Turnbull is the preferred candidate, on 24%.
If Nelson slipped off his Triumph and went under a bus and was removed from the equation altogether, 26% would back Turnbull on who should lead the Libs.
Special Morgan polling commissioned by Crikey in late July last year when the Howard government was on a primary vote of 35% found that the vote would be maintained under Turnbull. In contrast, only 31.5% of electors said they would vote for a Liberal Party led by Peter Costello.
Kevin Rudd scores 77% as preferred PM. Fifty per cent of voters say Deputy PM Julia Gillard should lead the ALP if he was to go.
Even despite Question Time, 8% say Wayne Swan should be leader, 6% back Lindsay Tanner, with 6% supporting Bill Shorten, Stephen Smith and Jenny Macklin.
You would hardly expect Nelson to be scoring any better at this stage.But watch Swan. He’s gone! When the treasurer of an economy can’t tell you that 80 billion dollars of state debt, 8% of GDP, is inflationary and talks about a surplus of 1.5%, forget it
Swan is no way gone, but I actually agree with JJ the answer on the state debt was neither test or 20/20 cricket. What was he trying to say – that the Fed’s should have covered infrastructure? recurrent expenses? Higher GST couldn’t fix NSW!
The ALP will no doubt pleased with its preferred PM and party standings. No doubt much hubris will follow. Cycles are remarkably consistent though.
All governments and new leaders enjoy honeymoon periods, but they all end up the same. They fall to earth, particularly if they lose sight of the day to day things that governments are supposed to deliver on. People may notice interest rates, rising grocery prices, and petrol prices all inconvenient truths for the party that campaigned on them just recently. People may notice Brian Burke has reappeared again despite denials a year ago, and indigenous Australians are still trailing in all the socio-economic indicators.
Kevin if you want advice on how the roller coaster ride goes ask Bob Carr, Geoff Gallop, Peter Beattie, Steve Bracks, Clare Martin all who headed to the exit door when the figures turned sour on them.
Even a former ALP staffer Andrew Fraser in the Canberra Times pointed to the fact that Brendan Nelson is in a positio
Even a former ALP staffer Andrew Fraser in the Canberra Times pointed to the fact that Brendan Nelson is in a position not of his making. The ALP has had two issues the apology and workplace relations completely dominate the agenda. All opposition leaders have a hard time and for example Mike Rann had approval figures in the toilet but no one remembers that now as SA Premier.