(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The popularity of Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has increased this month, according to a Newspoll published by The Australian. 68 per cent of respondents are satisfied with the performance of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) leader, up nine points since January.

Australia held a federal election in November 2007. Final results gave the ALP 85 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives. 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. 40 per cent of respondents are satisfied with Nelson’s performance, up four points in a month.

In the preferred prime minister category, 79 per cent of respondents choose Rudd, while only nine per cent pick Nelson as head of government.

On Feb. 22, Nelson accused Rudd of wasting taxpayers’ money for skipping a session in Parliament while visiting an indigenous community. Nelson declared before the session started: "I’ve got questions for Mr. Rudd and his ministers about the impact of climate change on petrol and power bills, but Mr. Rudd and his government are not here. A million dollars is going to spent by hard-working Australian taxpayers, yet we get no Question Time and I think there’s a few questions to be answered."

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 1,140 Australian voters, conducted from Feb. 15 to Feb. 17, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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