a, approval, approval of PM, Prime Minister, rudd
Q. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Kevin Rudd is doing as Prime Minister?
| 30 Mar 09 | 29 Jun 09 | 28 Sept 09 | 30 Nov 09 | 14 Dec 09 | 18 Jan 10 | 22 Feb 10 | 29 Mar 10 | 3 May 10 | |
| Strongly approve | 21% | 14% | 15% | 9% | 10% | 11% | 11% | 12% | 8% |
| Approve | 50% | 48% | 51% | 47% | 47% | 44% | 41% | 41% | 38% |
| Disapprove | 14% | 18% | 17% | 20% | 20% | 19% | 20% | 22% | 25% |
| Strongly disapprove | 7% | 9% | 6% | 15% | 12% | 14% | 17% | 14% | 17% |
| Don’t know | 9% | 11% | 11% | 10% | 10% | 12% | 11% | 12% | 12% |
| Total approve | 71% | 62% | 66% | 56% | 57% | 55% | 52% | 53% | 46% |
| Total disapprove | 21% | 29% | 23% | 35% | 32% | 33% | 37% | 36% | 42% |
Kevin Rudd’s approval rating has fallen to the lowest recorded since he became Prime Minister. 46% approve (down 7%) of the job Kevin Rudd is doing as Prime Minister and 42% disapprove (up 6%).
90% of Labor voters approve and 5% disapprove. 12% of Liberal/National voters approve and 81% disapprove.
Those aged over 55 are more likely to disapprove – 38% approve and 57% disapprove.
banks, Federal Government, Government support, immigrants, pensioners, rudd, small business, unions
Q7. During their term in office, do you think the Rudd Government has given too much support, not enough support or just about the right amount of support to the following –
| Given too much support | Given enough support | Not given enough support | Don’t know | |
| Pensioners | 3% | 27% | 57% | 12% |
| Poor families | 3% | 28% | 54% | 16% |
| Country Australia | 2% | 31% | 46% | 21% |
| Small businesses | 2% | 37% | 39% | 22% |
| Working people | 2% | 47% | 37% | 13% |
| Unemployed workers | 10% | 37% | 34% | 19% |
| Recent immigrants | 41% | 26% | 17% | 17% |
| Large businesses | 26% | 37% | 14% | 23% |
| Unions | 19% | 42% | 13% | 26% |
| The banks and other large financial institutions | 43% | 33% | 5% | 19% |
About half the respondents think that the Rudd Government has not given enough support to pensioners (57%), poor families (54%) and country Australia (46%). A sizable proportion think that too much support has been given to the banks and other large financial institutions (43%) and recent immigrants (41%). 47% think the Rudd Government has given enough support to working people and 42% think they have given enough support to unions.
Among Labor voters, 50% think the Government has not given enough support to pensioners and 54% think they have not given enough support to poor families. Comments »
International Relations, Labor, rudd
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Kevin Rudd is handling Australia’s relations with other nations?
| April 2009 | April 2010 | |
| Total approve | 67% | 50% |
| Total disapprove | 19% | 32% |
| Strongly approve | 17% | 10% |
| Approve | 50% | 40% |
| Disapprove | 13% | 22% |
| Strongly disapprove | 6% | 10% |
| Don’t know | 13% | 17% |
Half (50%) of those surveyed approve of the way Kevin Rudd is handling Australia’s relations with other nations, 32% disapprove and 17% don’t know.
Results followed party lines – Labor voters were more likely to approve (87%), while Coalition voters were more likely to disapprove (66%). 61% of Green voters approve of the way Kevin Rudd is handling Australia’s relations with other nations.
Males were more likely than females to approve (55% v 45%). Females were more likely to indicate they don’t know (22%).
People aged 55 years and over were more likely to disapprove of the way Kevin Rudd is handling Australia’s relations with other nations (45%).
Since we asked this question a year ago, the number of people that approve of the way Kevin Rudd is handling Australia’s relations with other nations has dropped seventeen percent and the number that disapprove has increased by thirteen percent. Comments »
Abbott, International Relations, Labor, Liberal, rudd
Q. Who would you trust more to handle Australia’s relations with other nations?
| % | |
| Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party | 41% |
| Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party | 27% |
| No difference | 22% |
| Don’t know | 10% |
41% trust Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party when it comes to handling Australia’s relations with other nations, 27% prefer Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party, 22% think there is no difference and 10% don’t know.
Results followed party lines – Labor voters were more likely to trust Kevin Rudd and Labor (85%) while Coalition voters were more likely to trust Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party (66%). Green voters were more likely to trust Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party (58%).
People aged 55 years and over were more likely to trust Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party (37%), while those aged 45 – 54 were more likely to trust Kevin Rudd and Labor (50%) when it comes to handling Australia’s relations with other nations. Comments »
Q. Regardless of your likely party choice for the next election, which of the leaders – Kevin Rudd or Tony Abbott – do you think overall would be the best Prime Minister?
| 21 Dec 09 | 22 March 10 | |
| Kevin Rudd | 51% | 50% |
| Tony Abbott | 25% | 30% |
| Don’t know | 24% | 19% |
When it comes to a choice between Rudd and Abbott as the better Prime Minister, 50% selected Rudd and 30% selected Abbott. The results for Rudd shifted slightly (-1%) since we last asked this question in December 2009. However, there has been a five percent increase in the number of people that prefer Abbott and a decrease in the number of people that don’t know (-5%).
Results followed party lines – 92% of Labor voters chose Rudd and 74% of Coalition voters chose Abbott.
64% of Green voters selected Rudd and 11% of Green voters selected Abbott.
People aged 65 years and over were more likely to think Abbott would make a better Prime Minister (42%), 18 – 24 year olds were more likely to indicate they don’t know who would make a better Prime Minister (28%). Comments »
Q. And who do you think would be the best Prime Minister out of Kevin Rudd and Joe Hockey?
| % | |
| Kevin Rudd | 53% |
| Joe Hockey | 27% |
| Don’t know | 20% |
In a choice between Rudd and Hockey as Prime Minister – over half (53%) think Rudd would make a better Prime Minister, 27% prefer Hockey and 20% don’t know.
Results followed party lines – 88% of Labor voters prefer Rudd and 56% of Coalition voters prefer Hockey.
Hockey performs better than Rudd amongst those that don’t know which party they will vote for in the next Federal election (50%).
People aged 65 years and over were more likely to prefer Hockey (42%) and 18 – 24 year olds were more likely to indicate they don’t know (31%). Comments »
Q. In the past few years – since Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party became Government – would you say you have moved closer to the Labor Party, further away from the ALP, or would you say you have stayed about the same in your view of them?
| Total % | Federal Vote | |||
| Labor | Coalition | Green | ||
| Closer to the Labor Party | 20% | 39% | 5% | 13% |
| Further away from the Labor Party | 33% | 5% | 67% | 43% |
| Stayed about the same | 41% | 54% | 27% | 37% |
| Don’t know | 6% | 1% | 2% | 6% |
41% of people indicated that in the past few years, since Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party became Government their view of Labor has stayed about the same. 33% have moved further away from the Labor Party and 20% have moved closer.
Labor voters were more likely to indicate that their support for Labor has stayed about the same since Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party became Government (54%).
67% of Coalition voters and 43% of Green voters have moved further away from the Labor Party since Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party became Government.
People aged 45 – 54 were more likely to indicate their views have stayed the same (51%) while those aged 65 years and over were more likely to indicate they have moved further away from the Labor Party (43%). Comments »