Lenore Taylor, political editor
theguardian.com, Saturday 13 September 2014
Opposition leaders fare worst, but survey shows nearly half cannot recognise state premiers Denis Napthine and Mike Baird
Unfamiliar face: 71% of poll respondents could not identify Queensland’s opposition leader, Annastacia Palaszczuk. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP
Warren who? Only 21% of Australians know that the deputy prime minister is Warren Truss, including just 11% of 18 to 24 year olds, according to a new survey. Of those surveyed, 4% thought the deputy prime minister was Tony Abbott.
But Truss, National party leader, deputy prime minister and minister for infrastructure and regional development, shouldn’t feel too bad – politicians with a much more pressing electoral need for public recognition also drew a blank.
In Victoria, where voters go to the polls in just over two months, almost half those surveyed (47%) didn’t know who the premier was (Denis Napthine) and 68% could not identify opposition leader Daniel Andrews.
And that wasn’t the highest “dunno” rate for a state opposition leader. In Queensland, where voters will got to the polls next year, 71% could not identify the opposition leader, Annastacia Palaszczuk. Only 30% of Queenslanders had trouble nominating their premier, Campbell Newman.
The premier with the highest non-recognition rate (51%) was NSW’s Mike Baird, but he’s only been in the job since April, and his Labor opponent, John Robertson, drew a shrug from 68% of NSW voters.
The poll of 1,222 voters undertaken in September by Lonergan Research showed widespread dissatisfaction and lack of understanding of politics.
Of those surveyed, 82% thought Australia had too many politicians, 36% said they couldn’t care less about politics and 60% said they had no idea whether their local MP was doing a good job or not.
Asked how long they had spent deciding who to vote for at the last election, 37% said “less than a minute” and 14% “about a minute”. 9% couldn’t remember who they voted for.
“Many politicians spend most of their time surrounded by other politicians, the media, lobbyists and advisers who are all very well informed about politics. It is easy to forget that the average voter has very little exposure to the world of politics,” said the managing director of Lonergan research Chris Lonergan.
“If the majority of Australians have no idea if their local MP is doing a good job or not, we are certainly not a nation of informed voters.”
