(11/07/08) -

Australian Labor Party Remains Dominant

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The level of support for the Australian Labor Party (ALP) has increased since mid-October, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 44 per cent of respondents would vote for the ALP in the next election to the House of Representatives, up three points in two weeks.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The level of support for the Australian Labor Party (ALP) has increased since mid-October, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 44 per cent of respondents would vote for the ALP in the next election to the House of Representatives, up three points in two weeks.

The Coalition of Liberals and Nationals is second with 39 per cent. The Australian Greens are next with nine per cent. Australia’s preferential voting system—where electors indicate an order of predilection for each contender, and the ballots from smaller parties are re-distributed—gives the ALP an eight-point lead over the Coalition.

Australia held a federal election in November 2007. Final results gave the ALP 85 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives. ALP leader Kevin Rudd was officially sworn in as prime minister in December, bringing an end to the 11-year tenure of Liberal leader John Howard as head of Australia’s government.

Howard failed to retain his seat in the Bennelong constituency and stepped down as Liberal leader. Brendan Nelson—a former defence minister—defeated former environment minister Malcolm Turnbull in an internal leadership ballot by just three votes. On Sept. 16, Turnbull won a new internal leadership race, edging Nelson by four votes.

On Oct. 31, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia Ric Battellino forecasted that while the country will grow at a below-average pace over the next two years, there is a high chance that it will be able to avoid the negative effects of the worldwide economic crisis.

Rudd reacted to Battelino’s announcement, saying, "I certainly agree with what the deputy governor said, because this is the core challenge of the government to do whatever is necessary to support positive economic growth. This will be tough, very tough because most other developing economies around the world are either in recession or heading there right now, and we are part of a global economy."

Polling Data

If a federal election to the House of Representatives were held today, which one of the following would you vote for? If "Uncommitted", to which one of these do you have a leaning?

Two-Party Preferred Vote

Source: Newspoll / The Australian
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,144 Australian voters, conducted from Oct. 24 to Oct. 26, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.