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  • Dec, 2009

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    Liberal Leadership

    Q. Does the election of Tony Abbott as leader of the Liberal Party make you more likely or less likely to vote Liberal?

    Total Labor Coalition Greens
    More likely 21% 12% 42% 5%
    Less likely 33% 44% 15% 62%
    Much more likely 9% 2% 24% 2%
    A little more likely 12% 10% 18% 3%
    A little less likely 10% 7% 12% 11%
    Much less likely 23% 37% 3% 51%
    Makes no difference 39% 42% 39% 32%
    Don’t know 7% 2% 3% 1%

    39% of people think the election of Tony Abbott as leader of the Liberal Party makes no difference to whether or not they will vote Liberal, 33% think it will make them less likely and 21% more likely to vote Liberal.

    42% of Coalition voters think the election of Tony Abbott as leader of the Liberal Party will make them more likely to vote Liberal, 15% think that it will make them less likely and 39% think it will make no difference.  44% of Labor voters and 62% of Green voters think it will make them less likely to vote Liberal.

    Females were more likely than males to indicate that the election of Tony Abbott as leader of the Liberal Party will make no difference to their vote (43% v 35%).

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  • Dec, 2009

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    Attributes to Describe the Opposition Leader

    Q.  Which of the following describe your opinion of the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott?

    Abbott

    7 Dec 09

    Turnbull

    29 June 09

    Rudd

    7 Dec 09

    Abbott lead over Turnbull Abbott lead over Rudd
    Intelligent 71% 75% 82% -4% -11%
    Hard-working 69% 68% 77% +1% -8%
    A capable leader 46% 39% 69% +7% -23%
    Demanding 53% 62% 60% -9% -7%
    Arrogant 53% 69% 49% -16% +4%
    Out of touch with ordinary people 53% 65% 45% -12% +8%
    Understands the problems facing Australia 46% 48% 59% -2% -13%
    Visionary 34% 26% 48% +8% -14%
    Superficial 42% 51% 41% -9% +1%
    Good in a crisis 39% 32% 58% +7% -19%
    Narrow-minded 52% 51% 36% +1% +16%
    Down to earth 46% 25% 55% +21% -9%
    Too inflexible 45% 47% 38% -2% +7%
    Complacent 31% 38% 38% -7% -7%
    More honest than most politicians 31% 16% 49% +15% -18%
    Trustworthy 36% * 51% * -15%

    *Not asked in June 2009 poll

    When it comes to rating Abbott, people think he is intelligent (71%) and hard-working (69%), yet demanding (53%), arrogant (53%) and out of touch with ordinary people (53%).

    Abbott scores higher than his predecessor Turnbull in terms of qualities such as being down to earth (+21%), more honest than most politicians (+15%), visionary (+8%), capable leader (+7%) and good in a crisis (+7%).

    Males were slightly more likely than females to think that Abbott is superficial (46% v 39%), honest (34% v 28%), visionary (37% v 32%) and down to earth (48% v 43%).

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  • Dec, 2009

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    Tony Abbott and Industrial Relations

    Q.  The new Liberal leader Tony Abbott says that the Rudd Government went too far with their industrial relations laws when they got rid of the Howard Government’s WorkChoices laws. Do you agree or disagree?

    %
    Total agree 37%
    Total disagree 45%
    Strongly agree 13%
    Agree 24%
    Disagree 22%
    Strongly disagree 23%
    Don’t know 18%

    45% of people disagree with Tony Abbott’s statement that the Rudd Government went too far with their industrial relations laws when they got rid of the Howard Government’s WorkChoices.   37% agree with Abbott’s statement that the Rudd Government has gone too far with industrial relations reform and 18% don’t know.

    Results followed party lines – 76% of Coalition voters agree and 74% of Labor voters disagree with Abbott’s statements regarding the Rudd Government’s industrial relations reforms.   Green voters were more likely to disagree with Abbott (62%).

    Males were more likely than females to agree with Abbott’s statement (41% v 33%).   People aged 55 years and over were also more likely to agree with Abbott (47%).

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  • Nov, 2009

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    Preferred Liberal Party Leader

    Q. Which of the following do you think would make the best leader of the Liberal Party?

    6 July 09

    Total

    17 Aug 09

    Total

    30 November 2009
    Total Labor Coalition Greens
    Joe Hockey 17% 16% 22% 27% 28% 14%
    Malcolm Turnbull 13% 12% 14% 15% 20% 14%
    Tony Abbott 7% 7% 9% 8% 13% 3%
    Julie Bishop 8% 6% 6% 7% 5% 9%
    Andrew Robb * 2% 2% 2% 2% *
    Someone else 20% 24% 19% 19% 14% 27%
    Don’t know 32% 33% 28% 22% 18% 33%

    * Not asked. Brendan Nelson (3%) and Greg Hunt (1%) were included in the July poll.

    22% of people think Joe Hockey would make the best leader of the Liberal Party, 14% prefer Malcolm Turnbull and 9% prefer Tony Abbott. Just under half (47%) do not think that any of those listed would be the best leader of the Liberal Party – 19% prefer someone else as leader and 28% don’t know.

    28% of Coalition voters think that Joe Hockey would make the best leader of the Liberal party, 20% of these same voters prefer Malcolm Turnbull and 13% prefer Tony Abbott.  Labor voters were more likely to think that Joe Hockey would make the best leader (27%).

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