Q. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?
| Malcolm Turnbull | Tony Abbott | |||||||||
| 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 | 14 Dec 09 | |
| Strongly approve | 4% | 3% | 3% | 2% | 4% | 2% | 3% | 3% | 2% | 7% |
| Approve | 37% | 29% | 25% | 28% | 20% | 20% | 24% | 26% | 23% | 27% |
| Disapprove | 21% | 26% | 31% | 28% | 31% | 30% | 35% | 30% | 33% | 18% |
| Strongly disapprove | 9% | 17% | 17% | 21% | 26% | 28% | 18% | 20% | 22% | 18% |
| Don’t know | 29% | 24% | 24% | 21% | 19% | 20% | 21% | 20% | 19% | 31% |
| Total approve | 41% | 32% | 28% | 30% | 24% | 22% | 27% | 29% | 25% | 34% |
| Total disapprove | 30% | 43% | 48% | 49% | 57% | 58% | 53% | 50% | 55% | 36% |
34% of respondents approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader, 36% disapprove and 31% don’t know.
Perception followed party lines – Coalition voters were more likely to approve of the job Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader (65%) while Labor voters were more likely to disapprove (55%). 15% of Coalition voters disapprove of the job Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader.
Abbott’s approval rating is nine percentage points higher than the score Turnbull received right before he was replaced as Opposition Leader. However, Turnbull’s approval rating when he took on the leadership role in September 2009 was 36% and his disapproval rating was 30%. This is a slightly better result than that scored by Abbott after his succession to the leadership position.