(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The governing Australian Labor Party (ALP) starts the year with a smaller lead over its main rival, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 40 per cent of respondents would vote for the ALP in the next election to the House of Representatives, down three points since early December.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The governing Australian Labor Party (ALP) starts the year with a smaller lead over its main rival, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 40 per cent of respondents would vote for the ALP in the next election to the House of Representatives, down three points since early December.
The Coalition of Liberals and National is second with 38 per cent, followed by the Australian Greens with 12 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. Since their electoral defeat in 2007, the Liberals have had three different leaders: former defence minister Brendan Nelson, former environment minister Malcolm Turnbull, and former health minister Tony Abbott, who defeated Turnbull in an internal leadership ballot by just one vote in December 2009.
On Jan. 12, Abbott called on the government to deliver on a promise to take legal action against whaling, saying, "It’s still not too late. I challenge the Prime Minister either to take Japan to the International Court or to admit that that was just an empty gesture."
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?
|
Jan. 17
|
Dec. 6
|
Nov. 29
|
|
|
Australian Labor Party
|
40%
|
43%
|
43%
|
|
Coalition (Liberal / National)
|
38%
|
38%
|
35%
|
|
Australian Greens
|
12%
|
11%
|
12%
|
|
Others
|
10%
|
8%
|
10%
|
Two-Party Preferred Vote
|
Jan. 17
|
Dec. 6
|
Nov. 29
|
|
|
Australian Labor Party
|
54%
|
56%
|
57%
|
|
Coalition (Liberal / National)
|
46%
|
44%
|
43%
|
Source: Newspoll / The Australian
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,144 Australian voters, conducted from Jan. 15 to Jan. 17, 2010. Margin of error is 3 per cent.
