(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The popularity of Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has taken a hard blow, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 50 per cent of respondents are dissatisfied with Rudd’s performance, up nine points since mid-April.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The popularity of Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has taken a hard blow, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 50 per cent of respondents are dissatisfied with Rudd’s performance, up nine points since mid-April.
Satisfaction with opposition leader Tony Abbott remains stable at 45 per cent. 50 per cent of respondents say Rudd would make a better prime minister than Abbott, down six points in less than a month. Abbott is preferred by 32 per cent of respondents, up three points.
Australia held a federal election in November 2007. Final results gave the Australian Labor Party (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 May 10, Abbott commented on the prime minister’s sagging popularity, declaring, "I think there is a developing crisis of confidence about Kevin Rudd’s capacity to govern effectively."
Polling Data
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Kevin Rudd is doing his job as prime minister?
|
|
May 2
|
Apr. 18
|
Mar. 28
|
|
Satisfied
|
39%
|
50%
|
51%
|
|
Dissatisfied
|
50%
|
41%
|
39%
|
|
Uncommitted
|
11%
|
9%
|
10%
|
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Tony Abbott is doing his job as leader of the opposition?
|
|
May 2
|
Apr. 18
|
Mar. 28
|
|
Satisfied
|
45%
|
46%
|
44%
|
|
Dissatisfied
|
43%
|
40%
|
43%
|
|
Uncommitted
|
12%
|
14%
|
13%
|
Who do you think would make the better prime minister?
|
|
May 2
|
Apr. 18
|
Mar. 28
|
|
Kevin Rudd (ALP)
|
50%
|
56%
|
59%
|
|
Tony Abbott (Lib.)
|
32%
|
29%
|
27%
|
|
Uncommitted
|
18%
|
15%
|
14%
|
Source: Newspoll / The Australian
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,161 Australian voters, conducted from Apr. 30 to May 2, 2010. Margin of error is 3 per cent.
