Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard?
| 5 Jul 10 | 4 Oct 10 | Difference | |
| Intelligent | 87% | 81% | -6% |
| Hard-working | 89% | 82% | -7% |
| A capable leader | 72% | 59% | -13% |
| Demanding | 58% | 58% | 0% |
| Arrogant | 37% | 39% | 2% |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 35% | 44% | 9% |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 68% | 55% | -13% |
| Visionary | 48% | 38% | -10% |
| Good in a crisis | 61% | 46% | -15% |
| Narrow-minded | 28% | 35% | 7% |
| Down to earth | 68% | 62% | -6% |
| Too inflexible | 26% | 36% | 10% |
| Complacent | 27% | 31% | 4% |
| More honest than most politicians | 45% | 37% | -8% |
| Trustworthy | 49% | 42% | -7% |
Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard?
| Total | Male | Female | |
| Intelligent | 81% | 79% | 84% |
| Hard-working | 82% | 80% | 83% |
| A capable leader | 59% | 57% | 61% |
| Demanding | 58% | 62% | 54% |
| Arrogant | 39% | 38% | 39% |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 44% | 47% | 41% |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 55% | 53% | 56% |
| Visionary | 38% | 38% | 38% |
| Good in a crisis | 46% | 46% | 46% |
| Narrow-minded | 35% | 38% | 31% |
| Down to earth | 62% | 60% | 65% |
| Too inflexible | 36% | 40% | 33% |
| Complacent | 31% | 34% | 28% |
| More honest than most politicians | 37% | 39% | 35% |
| Trustworthy | 42% | 45% | 39% |
Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott?
| 5 Jul 10 | 4 Oct 10 | Change | |
| Intelligent | 70% | 71% | 1% |
| Hard-working | 76% | 78% | 2% |
| A capable leader | 47% | 52% | 5% |
| Demanding | 53% | 61% | 8% |
| Arrogant | 59% | 60% | 1% |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 57% | 53% | -4% |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 50% | 53% | 3% |
| Visionary | 32% | 31% | -1% |
| Good in a crisis | 40% | 42% | 2% |
| Narrow-minded | 56% | 53% | -3% |
| Down to earth | 47% | 47% | 0% |
| Too inflexible | 45% | 43% | -2% |
| Complacent | 34% | 32% | -2% |
| More honest than most politicians | 33% | 32% | -1% |
| Trustworthy | 33% | 35% | 2% |
Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott?
| Total | Male | Female | |
| Intelligent | 71% | 70% | 71% |
| Hard-working | 78% | 79% | 77% |
| A capable leader | 52% | 54% | 50% |
| Demanding | 61% | 66% | 56% |
| Arrogant | 60% | 63% | 56% |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 53% | 57% | 49% |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 53% | 52% | 54% |
| Visionary | 31% | 32% | 30% |
| Good in a crisis | 42% | 44% | 40% |
| Narrow-minded | 53% | 56% | 51% |
| Down to earth | 47% | 47% | 47% |
| Too inflexible | 43% | 47% | 40% |
| Complacent | 32% | 34% | 29% |
| More honest than most politicians | 32% | 32% | 31% |
| Trustworthy | 35% | 36% | 34% |
5
Approval of Tony Abbott
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?
| Malcolm Turnbull | Tony Abbott | ||||||||
| 30 Nov 09 | 14 Dec 09 | 18 Jan 10 | 22 Feb 10 | 29 Mar 10 | 3 May 10 | 31 May 10 | 28 Jun 10 | 5 Jul 10 | |
| Total approve | 25% | 34% | 37% | 45% | 33% | 39% | 35% | 40% | 37% |
| Total disapprove | 55% | 36% | 37% | 36% | 50% | 43% | 50% | 39% | 47% |
| Strongly approve | 2% | 7% | 5% | 12% | 8% | 5% | 5% | 9% | 8% |
| Approve | 23% | 27% | 32% | 33% | 25% | 34% | 30% | 31% | 29% |
| Disapprove | 33% | 18% | 20% | 20% | 28% | 24% | 28% | 20% | 23% |
| Strongly disapprove | 22% | 18% | 17% | 16% | 22% | 19% | 22% | 19% | 24% |
| Don’t know | 19% | 31% | 26% | 18% | 16% | 18% | 16% | 20% | 16% |
Tony Abbott’s net rating as Opposition Leader have dropped back into negative territory over the last week. 37% approve (down 3%) and 47% disapprove (up 8%).
81% of Liberal/National voters approve and 12% disapprove. Labor voters split 15% approve/75% disapprove.
Men split 41% approve/45% disapprove and women 34% approve/48% disapprove. Comments »
| Julia Gillard | Tony Abbott | Difference | |
| Intelligent | 87% | 70% | +17 |
| Hard-working | 89% | 76% | +13 |
| A capable leader | 72% | 47% | +25 |
| Demanding | 58% | 53% | +5 |
| Arrogant | 37% | 59% | -22 |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 35% | 57% | -22 |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 68% | 50% | +18 |
| Visionary | 48% | 32% | +16 |
| Superficial | 35% | 45% | -10 |
| Good in a crisis | 61% | 40% | +21 |
| Narrow-minded | 28% | 56% | -28 |
| Down to earth | 68% | 47% | +21 |
| Too inflexible | 26% | 45% | -19 |
| Complacent | 27% | 34% | +13 |
| More honest than most politicians | 45% | 33% | +12 |
| Trustworthy | 49% | 33% | +16 |
Julia Gillard is rated substantially higher than Tony Abbott on all positive attributes and lower on negative attributes.
The largest differences are in terms of narrow-minded (-28%), a capable leader (+25%) and arrogant (-22%).
28
Changing Leaders – Approval
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of Julia Gillard replacing Kevin Rudd as leader of the Labor Party and Prime Minister?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | |
| Total approve | 47% | 68% | 36% |
| Total disapprove | 40% | 23% | 60% |
| Strongly approve | 15% | 27% | 10% |
| Approve | 32% | 41% | 26% |
| Disapprove | 19% | 11% | 26% |
| Strongly disapprove | 21% | 12% | 34% |
| Don’t know | 12% | 9% | 5% |
Sample = 818
47% approved the change from Kevin Rudd to Julia Gillard as Prime Minister and 40% disapproved. Opinions reflected political party preferences. Labor voters strongly approved the change by 68% to 23% while 60% of Liberal/National voters disapproved and 36% approved. There were no significant differences by gender. However, older respondents were more likely to approve than younger respondents – 55% of those aged 55+ approved and 37% disapproved. Comments »
21
Best Leader – Rudd/Abbott
Q. Who do you think would make the better Prime Minister out of Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | 22 Mar 10 | ||
| Kevin Rudd | 47% | 90% | 9% | 50% | |
| Tony Abbott | 30% | 3% | 80% | 30% | |
| Don’t know | 23% | 7% | 11% | 19% |
47% believe that Kevin Rudd would make the best Prime Minister and 30% preferred Tony Abbott. This is little changed since the last time this question was asked when Kevin Rudd was preferred 50% to 30%.
Men preferred Kevin Rudd by 45% to 38%, whereas women were much less likely to prefer Tony Abbott (Rudd 49%, Abbott 23%). Greens voters preferred Kevin Rudd 64% to 9%. Comments »
Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd?
| 29 June 09 | 7 Dec 09 | 10 May 10 | Change | |
| Intelligent | 84% | 82% | 73% | -9% |
| Hard-working | 83% | 77% | 76% | -1% |
| A capable leader | 72% | 69% | 55% | -14% |
| Demanding | 67% | 60% | 69% | +9% |
| Arrogant | 46% | 49% | 57% | +8% |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 41% | 45% | 55% | +10% |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 67% | 59% | 53% | -6% |
| Visionary | 49% | 48% | 37% | -11% |
| Superficial | 40% | 41% | 52% | +11% |
| Good in a crisis | 60% | 58% | 44% | -14% |
| Narrow-minded | 32% | 36% | 43% | +7% |
| Down to earth | 56% | 55% | 47% | -8% |
| Too inflexible | 32% | 38% | 45% | +7% |
| Complacent | 28% | 38% | 38% | - |
| More honest than most politicians | 47% | 49% | 39% | -10% |
| Trustworthy | * | 51% | 41% | -10% |
*Not asked in June 2009
Most people consider Rudd hard working (76%), intelligent (73%) and demanding (69%).
Since this question was last asked in December 2009, Kevin Rudd has lost points on most positive qualities including being a capable leader
(-14%), good in a crisis (-14%), visionary (-11%) and trustworthy (-10%). His ratings have increased significantly in terms of being superficial (+11) and out of touch with ordinary people (+10%). Comments »
Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott?
| 7 Dec 09 | 10 May 10 | Change | |
| Intelligent | 71% | 72% | +1% |
| Hard-working | 69% | 71% | +2% |
| A capable leader | 46% | 50% | +4% |
| Demanding | 53% | 52% | -1% |
| Arrogant | 53% | 54% | +1% |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 53% | 51% | -2% |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 46% | 49% | +3% |
| Visionary | 34% | 35% | +1% |
| Superficial | 42% | 44% | +2% |
| Good in a crisis | 39% | 40% | +1% |
| Narrow-minded | 52% | 53% | +1% |
| Down to earth | 46% | 50% | +4% |
| Too inflexible | 45% | 47% | +2% |
| Complacent | 31% | 30% | -1% |
| More honest than most politicians | 31% | 33% | +2% |
| Trustworthy | 36% | 39% | +3% |
*Not asked in June 2009 poll
When it comes to rating Tony Abbott, most people think he is intelligent (72%) and hard-working (71%), yet arrogant (54%), narrow-minded (53%) and demanding (52%).
There were few substantial changes Tony Abbott’s ratings compared to the December 2009 results. His rating for being a capable leader improved 4% to 50%, as did his rating for being down to earth.
Essential Report
Two Party Preferred: 30 Jan 2012
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