(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Public support for the Australian Labor Party (ALP) increased last month, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 47 per cent of respondents would back the governing ALP in the next election to the House of Representatives, up four points in two weeks.

The Coalition of Liberals and Nationals is second with 37 per cent, followed by the Australian Greens with 10 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 14-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 Aug. 1, Howard defended Nelson as speculation about a leadership challenge within the Liberal ranks continued, saying, "There is no harder job than being leader of an opposition, it’s tough, it’s unrelenting. You have my total goodwill, my total support."

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 1,146 Australian voters, conducted from Jul. 25 to Jul. 27, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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