The Essential Report Archive Read the latest report

  • Mar, 2012

    , , , , , , , , , ,

    Better Prime Minister

    Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott?

     

    5 Jul 2010

    14 Mar

    14 June

    12 Sept

    17 Oct

    14 Nov

    12 Dec

    16 Jan 2012

    13 Feb

    12 Mar

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Julia Gillard

    53%

    44%

    41%

    36%

    38%

    41%

    39%

    39%

    41%

    40%

    84%

    6%

    74%

    Tony Abbott

    26%

    33%

    36%

    40%

    39%

    36%

    35%

    36%

    34%

    37%

    4%

    76%

    5%

    Don’t know

    21%

    23%

    24%

    24%

    23%

    24%

    26%

    25%

    25%

    23%

    12%

    18%

    21%

    40% (down 1%) believe Julia Gillard would make the better Prime Minister and 37% (up 3%) prefer Tony Abbott – a net change from +7% to +3% for Julia Gillard.

    Both men and women prefer Julia Gillard 40%/37%.

    Comments »

  • Mar, 2012

    , , , , , , , , , , ,

    Performance during Leadership Challenge

    Q. How would you rate the performance of the following during the Labor leadership challenge?

     

    Total good

    Total poor

    Very good

    Good

    Average

    Poor

    Very poor

    Don’t know

    Julia Gillard

    23%

    49%

    10%

    13%

    24%

    17%

    32%

    4%

    Kevin Rudd

    33%

    35%

    12%

    21%

    27%

    16%

    19%

    4%

    Labor Party Ministers

    10%

    52%

    2%

    8%

    30%

    25%

    27%

    8%

    Tony Abbott

    25%

    40%

    9%

    16%

    27%

    18%

    22%

    8%

    The media

    14%

    43%

    3%

    11%

    35%

    20%

    23%

    6%

    Apart from Kevin Rudd, the performance of all parties to the leadership challenge were rated poorly.

    33% thought the performance of Kevin Rudd was good and 35% poor. For Julia Gillard the rating was 23% good and 49% poor. Labor Party Ministers were rated most negatively – 10% good and 52% poor.

    However, Julia Gillard was rated a little better than Kevin Rudd by Labor voters – their rating of Julia Gillard was 50% good/15% poor compared to 49% good/22% poor for Kevin Rudd.

    Comments »

  • Feb, 2012

    , , , , , , , ,

    Approval of Tony Abbott

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?

    18 Jan

    2010

    5 Jul

    2010

    20 Dec 2010 14 Mar

    2011

    14 June 12 Sept 17 Oct 14 Nov 12 Dec 16 Jan 2012 13 Feb
    Total approve 37% 37% 39% 38% 38% 39% 40% 36% 32% 35% 35%
    Total disapprove 37% 47% 39% 47% 48% 50% 51% 52% 53% 51% 53%
    Strongly approve 5% 8% 9% 7% 6% 8% 8% 6% 6% 7% 6%
    Approve 32% 29% 30% 31% 32% 31% 32% 30% 26% 28% 29%
    Disapprove 20% 23% 21% 24% 25% 23% 23% 26% 25% 25% 23%
    Strongly disapprove 17% 24% 18% 23% 23% 27% 28% 26% 28% 26% 30%
    Don’t know 26% 16% 22% 16% 15% 11% 9% 12% 14% 13% 12%

    Tony Abbott’s approval rating has also changed little over the last month. 35% (no change) approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader and 53% (up 2%) disapprove – a change in net rating from -16 to -18 over the last 4 weeks.

    67% (down 1%) of Coalition voters approve and 21% (no change) disapprove.

    By gender – men 40% approve/52% disapprove, women 31% approve/54% disapprove.

    Comments »

  • Feb, 2012

    , , , , , , , , ,

    Better Prime Minister

    Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott?

    5 Jul 2010 14 Mar 14 June 12 Sept 17 Oct 14 Nov 12 Dec 16 Jan 2012 13 Feb Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Julia Gillard 53% 44% 41% 36% 38% 41% 39% 39% 41% 85% 5% 76%
    Tony Abbott 26% 33% 36% 40% 39% 36% 35% 36% 34% 3% 73% 7%
    Don’t know 21% 23% 24% 24% 23% 24% 26% 25% 25% 12% 22% 17%

    41% (up 2%) believe Julia Gillard would make the better Prime Minister and 34% (down 2%) prefer Tony Abbott – a net change from +3% to +7% for Julia Gillard. This is Julia Gillard’s best result since May last year.

    Men prefer Julia Gillard 42%/37% and women favour Julia Gillard 40%/32%.

    Comments »

  • Feb, 2012

    , , , , , , , , ,

    Leaders at the Next Election

    Q. Do you think Julia Gillard will still be leading the Labor Party at the election due next year?

    Q. Do you think Tony Abbott will still be leading the Liberal Party at the election due next year?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Julia Gillard Yes 31% 54% 19% 43%
    No 47% 22% 70% 26%
    Don’t know 22% 24% 11% 31%
    Tony Abbott Yes 47% 37% 67% 34%
    No 25% 37% 12% 31%
    Don’t know 28% 26% 21% 35%

    31% think Julia Gillard will still be the leader of the Labor Party at the election due next year and 47% think she will not be the leader. Opinions are closely associated with party preference. 54% of Labor voters think she will still be the leader.

    47% think Tony Abbott will still be the leader of the Liberal Party at the election due next year and 25% think he will not be the leader. Opinions are closely associated with party preference. 67% of Liberal/National voters think he will still be the leader.

    Among non-major party voters, 36% think Julia Gillard will still be leading the Labor Party and 33% think Tony Abbott will still be leading the Liberal Party.

    Comments »

  • Jan, 2012

    , , , , , , ,

    Approval of Tony Abbott

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?

    18 Jan

    2010

    5 Jul

    2010

    20 Dec 2010 14 Mar

    2011

    14 June 12 Sept 17 Oct 14 Nov 12 Dec 16 Jan 2012
    Total approve 37% 37% 39% 38% 38% 39% 40% 36% 32% 35%
    Total disapprove 37% 47% 39% 47% 48% 50% 51% 52% 53% 51%
    Strongly approve 5% 8% 9% 7% 6% 8% 8% 6% 6% 7%
    Approve 32% 29% 30% 31% 32% 31% 32% 30% 26% 28%
    Disapprove 20% 23% 21% 24% 25% 23% 23% 26% 25% 25%
    Strongly disapprove 17% 24% 18% 23% 23% 27% 28% 26% 28% 26%
    Don’t know 26% 16% 22% 16% 15% 11% 9% 12% 14% 13%

    Tony Abbott’s approval rating has also improved a little over the last month. 35% (up 3%) approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader and 51% (down 2%) disapprove – a change in net rating from -21 to -16 over the last 5 weeks.

    68% (up 3%) of Coalition voters approve and 21% (down 1%) disapprove.

    By gender – men 41% approve/49% disapprove, women 29% approve/53% disapprove.

    Comments »

  • Jan, 2012

    , , , , , , , ,

    Better Prime Minister

    Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott?

    5 Jul 2010 14 Mar 14 June 12 Sept 17 Oct 14 Nov 12 Dec 16 Jan 2012 Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens
    Julia Gillard 53% 44% 41% 36% 38% 41% 39% 39% 83% 5% 69%
    Tony Abbott 26% 33% 36% 40% 39% 36% 35% 36% 5% 76% 4%
    Don’t know 21% 23% 24% 24% 23% 24% 26% 25% 12% 20% 27%

    39% believe Julia Gillard would make the better Prime Minister and 36% prefer Tony Abbott – no significant change from last month’s result.

    Men prefer Tony Abbott 41%/37% and women favour Julia Gillard 41%/31%.

    Comments »

  • Dec, 2011

    , , , , , , , , , ,

    2012 Outlook – Politicians

    Q. Do you think 2012 will be a good or bad year for each of the following politicians?

    Total good

    Dec 10

    Total bad

    Dec10

    Total good Total bad Very good Good Neither good nor bad Bad Very bad Don’t know
    Julia Gillard 28% 36% 19% 56% 4% 15% 17% 29% 27% 9%
    Tony Abbott 29% 27% 24% 38% 6% 18% 29% 24% 14% 10%
    Kevin Rudd 21% 30% 30% 25% 5% 25% 35% 17% 8% 10%
    Malcolm Turnbull 20% 21% 22% 22% 3% 19% 42% 17% 5% 14%
    Bob Brown 20% 30% 16% 39% 2% 14% 31% 20% 19% 14%

    Overall, there were negative expectations for the three party leaders – Julia Gillard (-37% net), Tony Abbott (-14%) and Bob Brown (-23%) while respondents were more evenly divided over Kevin Rudd (+5%) and Malcolm Turnbull (-).

    45% of Labor voters expect Julia Gillard to have a good year and 47% of Liberal/National voters expect Tony Abbott to have a good year.

    Compared to expectations 12 months ago, respondents were somewhat less positive about all party leaders – Julia Gillard has dropped form net -8% to net -37%, Tony Abbott from +2% to -14% and Bob Brown from -10% to -23%.

    Comparing these results with last week’s questions, respondents expect 2012 to be similar 2011 for Julia Gillard (net -37% next year compared to -36% this year) and Tony Abbott (-14% next year, -17% this year). However, Bob Brown is expected to have a worse year in 2012 (net -23%) than this year (+5%).

    Comments »

Error: