(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The governing Australian Labor Party (ALP) keeps a high level of popularity in the country, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 47 per cent of respondents would vote for the ALP in the next election to the House of Representatives, unchanged since late July.

The Coalition of Liberals and Nationals is second with 38 per cent, followed by the Australian Greens with nine 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.

Earlier this month, the ALP launched an advertising campaign to attack the Liberals ahead of a legislative election in West Australia. The ad—which points out that the ALP has more female candidates than the Liberals—features a little girl who says: "When I grow up I want to live in a place where women have a voice in the community. (...) When I grow up there’s no way I’ll be voting Liberal." The ALP is fielding female candidates in 19 of the 59 constituencies, compared to six for the Liberals.

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 1,140 Australian voters, conducted from Aug. 8 to Aug. 10, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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