(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - More Australian adults are content with the performance of Kevin Rudd, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 59 per cent of respondents are satisfied with the way the prime minister is doing his job, up three points since early June.

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. Brendan Nelson—a former defence minister—defeated former environment minister Malcolm Turnbull in an internal leadership ballot by just three votes. 36 per cent of respondents are content with Nelson’s performance as leader of the opposition.

In the preferred prime minister category, 68 per cent of respondents choose Rudd, while 13 per cent pick Nelson as head of government.

Earlier this month, former health minister and Liberal lawmaker Tony Abbott challenged Rudd to clearly state his position on moral issues, stating, "As a politician, I can’t base opposition to abortion on demand, for instance, on religious faith but on the consequence for society of taking a people-are-disposable attitude to life. This is a hard distinction to grasp but it’s an important one and its existence in our policy has been very important to our country’s success and that of like-minded countries. (...) My problem with Mr. Rudd and his team is not that they’re not decent people. By and large they are decent people. It’s that they don’t have the best political values to run a good government."

Polling Data

Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Kevin Rudd is doing his job as prime minister?

Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Brendan Nelson is doing his job as leader of the opposition?

Who do you think would make the better prime minister?

Source: Newspoll / The Australian
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,144 Australian voters, conducted from Jun. 13 to Jun. 15, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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