Labor’s vote has reversed its gains of recent weeks in today’s Essential Report poll, with its primary vote falling two points and the Liberals picking up two. With a lower Green vote of 10%, the Coalition has returned to a 2PP lead of 52-48, in effect wiping out the polling effect of two weeks of Liberal infighting. This is the Coalition’s strongest ever lead in Essential’s polls.
Essential’s poll was conducted last week and over the weekend, with most responses after the government’s announcement on Thursday of its commitment to carbon pricing mechanism from 1 July 2012. The plan has been attacked as a broken promise given the government repeatedly and vehemently ruled out a carbon tax prior to the election.
The first poll taken after the announcement appears to suggest that tack is working for the opposition.
Tony Abbott, however, has failed to strengthen his grip on the Liberal leadership in voters’ eyes, with a small slip in his rating for “best leader of the Liberal Party” from 26% at the end of September to 24% now. In particular, Abbott has dropped eight points among Liberal voters as “best leader”. Neither Malcolm Turnbull have been able to take advantage of this, however — Turnbull’s rating on the same question has fallen from 20% to 18% as “best leader”, while Hockey has edged up from 15% to 16% — still below his strong rating of 22% on the eve of the three-way leadership spill at the end of 2009. Turnbull leads strongly among Labor and Greens voters.
How can the Greens do anything for the environment, when their politicians open their mouths to talk and “spiders and bats” come out?
Do they plan to scare people – or are they just “lucky”?
However much people might approve ‘doing something’ re CO2, at the back of their mind is the fact that the ‘something’ is going to cost them. That’s not going to be popular.
Finally the penny drops in the community. They’re just going to have to face facts. Mind you judging by the number of 4WD’s on the Gold Coast, people are hardly down and out. They seem to have plenty of money for those little luxuries so now let them pay for it.
BTW Australia is sadly lacking in the pursuit of alternative energy cars. Electric cars all over the world and even a compressed air car in India and what do we have here? Just more of the same from the taxpayer funded car companies. More gas guzzlers.
@Nico: So do you think there’s a future in making cars? (of any sort)
Do we, as a nation, actually, really believe that energy costs will not increase, steadily?