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Australia’s Rudd Doing Well, Turnbull Recovers
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Australians are content with their prime minister and the leader of the opposition seems to have survived a rough patch, according to a poll by Newspoll published by The Australian. 61 per cent of respondents are satisfied with the performance of head of government Kevin Rudd, up two points since late June.
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. 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 Jun. 19, Turnbull asked Rudd and Australian treasurer Wayne Swan to resign after accusing them of providing car dealer friend John Grant with bail-out funds from taxpayer money. On Jun. 22, it was revealed that an e-mail that Turnbull used to corroborate his accusations had been forged by an unnamed Treasury official. 31 per cent of respondents are satisfied with Turnbull’s performance, up six points since late June.
In the category of preferred prime minister, Rudd is first with 64 per cent, followed by Turnbull with 19 per cent.
On Jul. 20, Turnbull suggested that he would be in favour of passing a greenhouse gas-emission trading scheme proposed by the government in a vote scheduled for next month if some changes are made. Turnbull’s comments received immediate criticism by some members of his own Coalition who said that the group should block the bill regardless of any amendments.
Turnbull declared: "There is an overwhelming consensus in the business community that the law should be changed and we should seek to advance and promote those changes." Nationals senator Ron Boswell disagreed with Turnbull, stating, "The Coalition Joint Party room decided that the legislation would be opposed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Any decision to change that policy must be taken by the Joint Party Room to have authority."
Polling Data
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Kevin Rudd is doing his job as prime minister?
|
|
Jul. 12 |
Jun. 28 |
Jun. 14 |
|
Satisfied |
61% |
59% |
58% |
|
Dissatisfied |
28% |
30% |
31% |
|
Uncommitted |
11% |
11% |
11% |
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Malcolm Turnbull is doing his job as leader of the opposition?
|
|
Jul. 12 |
Jun. 28 |
Jun. 14 |
|
Satisfied |
31% |
25% |
44% |
|
Dissatisfied |
55% |
58% |
37% |
|
Uncommitted |
14% |
17% |
19% |
Who do you think would make the better prime minister?
|
|
Jul. 12 |
Jun. 28 |
Jun. 14 |
|
Kevin Rudd (ALP) |
64% |
65% |
57% |
|
Malcolm Turnbull (Lib.) |
19% |
18% |
25% |
|
Uncommitted |
17% |
17% |
18% |
Source: Newspoll / The Australian
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,132 Australian voters, conducted from Jul. 10 to Jul. 12, 2009. Margin of error is 3 per cent.