(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – For the first time since being elected, Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd shows an approval rating of less than 50 per cent, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 48 per cent of respondents are satisfied with Rudd’s performance, down three points since late February.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – For the first time since being elected, Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd shows an approval rating of less than 50 per cent, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 48 per cent of respondents are satisfied with Rudd’s performance, down three points since late February.
Since being elected, Rudd’s approval rating had always hovered above the 50 per cent mark in Newspoll surveys.
Opposition leader Tony Abbot’s satisfaction rate is stable at 47 per cent. Rudd remains the preferred prime minister with 55 per cent, followed by Abbott with 30 per cent.
Australia held a federal election in November 2007. Final results gave the ALP 85 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives. ALP leader 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 Abbott, who defeated Turnbull in an internal leadership ballot by just one vote in December 2009.
On Mar. 15, Rudd announced plans to increase the number of spots for medical graduates to become general practitioners to 1,200 by 2014. Rudd unveiled the plan, saying, "When we travel to regional Australia, we hear time and time again right across the nation about the shortage of doctors, the shortage of GPs. This is simply not good enough."
Polling Data
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Kevin Rudd is doing his job as prime minister?
|
|
Mar. 14
|
Feb. 28
|
Feb. 14
|
|
Satisfied
|
48%
|
51%
|
50%
|
|
Dissatisfied
|
41%
|
40%
|
40%
|
|
Uncommitted
|
11%
|
9%
|
10%
|
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Tony Abbott is doing his job as leader of the opposition?
|
|
Mar. 14
|
Feb. 28
|
Feb. 14
|
|
Satisfied
|
47%
|
48%
|
44%
|
|
Dissatisfied
|
38%
|
38%
|
37%
|
|
Uncommitted
|
15%
|
14%
|
19%
|
Who do you think would make the better prime minister?
|
|
Mar. 14
|
Feb. 28
|
Feb. 14
|
|
Kevin Rudd (ALP)
|
55%
|
55%
|
55%
|
|
Tony Abbott (Lib.)
|
30%
|
30%
|
27%
|
|
Uncommitted
|
15%
|
15%
|
18%
|
Source: Newspoll / The Australian
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,143 Australian voters, conducted from Mar. 12 to Mar. 14, 2010. Margin of error is 3 per cent.
