(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Australia’s governing centre-left party continues to enjoy a high level of public support, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 47 per cent of respondents would vote for the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the next election to the House of Representatives, up two points since late March.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Australia’s governing centre-left party continues to enjoy a high level of public support, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 47 per cent of respondents would vote for the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the next election to the House of Representatives, up two points since late March.
The Coalition of Liberals and Nationals is second with 36 per cent, followed by the Australian Greens 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 a 16-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. In September 2008, Turnbull won a new internal leadership race, edging Nelson by four votes.
On Apr. 12, Rudd came back to Australia immediately after an Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Bangkok, Thailand, was cancelled due to anti-government riots in the capital. Rudd expressed his disappointment with the situation, saying, "There’s important business to discuss on the future of the economy, given the impact of the global economic recession. (…) We will have to reconvene this meeting at a later time."
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?
|
|
Apr. 5 |
Mar. 22 |
Mar. 8 |
|
Australian Labor Party |
47% |
45% |
44% |
|
Coalition (Liberal / National) |
36% |
37% |
36% |
|
Australian Greens |
9% |
8% |
10% |
|
Others |
8% |
10% |
10% |
Two-Party Preferred Vote
|
|
Apr. 5 |
Mar. 22 |
Mar. 8 |
|
Australian Labor Party |
58% |
56% |
56% |
|
Coalition (Liberal / National) |
42% |
44% |
44% |
Source: Newspoll / The Australian
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,158 Australian voters, conducted from Apr. 3 to Apr. 5, 2009. Margin of error is 3 per cent.
