Daniel Hurst, political correspondent
theguardian.com, Monday 21 July 2014
Prime minister is rated trustworthy by just 35% of voters in latest Fairfax Nielsen poll, compared with 45% for Bill Shorten
Opposition leader Bill Shorten maintains a five-point lead over Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister. Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian
The Abbott government enters the winter parliamentary break lagging in the polls and with significant budget measures yet to be legislated.
The Fairfax Nielsen poll, published on Monday, shows Labor holding a two-party-preferred lead over the Coalition of 54% to 46% based on preference flows at the last election.
The poll of 1,400 voters from Thursday to Saturday indicated Labor’s primary support has risen three points since last month’s poll, to about 40%, the Coalition’s support has remained stable at 39%, the Greens’ has dropped one point to 12%, and the Palmer United party’s (PUP) support is at 5%.
Bill Shorten maintained a five-point lead over Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister (46% to 41%) as parliament entered its winter recess after a session that included the government securing passage of its bill to scrap the carbon price.
The government failed to repeal the mining tax after the Senate insisted on keeping spending measures, including the schoolkids bonus, and the Coalition is yet to legislate key budget measures such as the $7 GP fee, welfare changes and university deregulation.
The budget appears to have taken its toll on Joe Hockey’s standing as the treasurer. The poll showed Hockey and his Labor counterpart, Chris Bowen, were effectively even on the question of preferred treasurer. Hockey previously held a 17-point lead, Fairfax reported.
Just 35% of voters rated Abbott as trustworthy, compared with 45% for Shorten.
In other measures of the leaders' attributes, 54% believed Abbott had a clear vision for Australia's future while only 38% had the same view of Shorten. Voters were more likely to view Shorten as having a firm grasp of social policy but Abbott held a narrow lead on the question of foreign policy.
Overall satisfaction with Abbott's performance rose three points since the previous poll to 38% and dissatisfaction decreased four points to 56% (resulting in a net satisfaction rating of -18).
Voters' satisfaction with Shorten's performance dropped one point to 41% and dissatisfaction rose three points to 44% (net satisfaction of -3).
The poll has a stated maximum sampling error margin of 2.6%.
