Government polls woes
Despite a flurry of government policy activity in recent weeks, the Newspoll conducted exclusively for The Australian at the weekend found the Coalition ahead of Labor by 56 per cent to 44 per cent in two-party-preferred terms.
With the Coalition on a 47 per cent primary vote and Labor on 29 per cent, the results were identical to those of the previous Newspoll conducted from July 22-24.
Labor has been in the polling doldrums for months, with its attempts to bond with voters smashed by the Coalition's campaign of opposition to its proposed carbon tax.
After resolving the details of the carbon tax with the Greens a month ago, Ms Gillard has sought to shift the debate to Labor agenda items and to make good on her promise to make 2011 "the year of decision and delivery".
In an interview with The Weekend Australian, she said she was committed to action on carbon change but was relishing the opportunity to move into Labor's core policy areas of health, education and economic reform.
However, the shift has yet to affect her standing with voters, with the results of the Newspoll taken at the weekend almost identical to those from the July 22-24 survey.
It found satisfaction with Ms Gillard's performance climbed by a single percentage point to 33 per cent, while the percentage of people dissatisfied with her performance dropped a point to 58 per cent.
Thirty-nine percent of respondents were satisfied with Tony Abbott's performance, while 52 per cent were dissatisfied.
The two leaders continued their neck-and-neck race for supremacy in the preferred-prime-minister stakes, both dropping a percentage point in the past fortnight.
The Opposition Leader remained ahead by one percentage point on 40 per cent to Mrs Gillard's 39 per cent, with 21 per cent of respondents undecided.
Ms Gillard's rating as preferred prime minister stood at 44 per cent in the May 27-29 survey - seven percentage points ahead of Mr Abbott.
But as the Opposition Leader toured the nation visiting workplaces on his anti-carbon-tax campaign, his popularity climbed from 37 per cent to 40 per cent by June 24-26, when he overtook Ms Gillard for the first time.
He spread his lead to five percentage points by the July 8-10 survey, in which 43 per cent of respondents named him their preferred prime minister to Ms Gillard's 38 per cent.
But the Prime Minister has since rallied, as the completion of the design of the carbon tax, which will take effect from next July, allowed her to provide clear responses to Mr Abbott's attacks.
While Labor will be disappointed with the latest poll, senior government sources have been telling The Australian for weeks that the government's strategy is to slowly claw back lost ground over coming months.
Ms Gillard told a caucus meetings early last month that she expected the finalisation of the carbon tax design would signal a turning point, but she made it clear she did not expect an overnight turnaround.
The latest poll was conducted over the weekend using telephone interviews with 1144 voters.
The data was weighted to reflect population distribution and the result has a maximum margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
- From: The Australian
- August 09, 2011
JULIA Gillard's burst of policy outcomes in health, border protection and climate change has failed to lift her popularity, with the latest Newspoll showing no improvement for Labor in the past fortnight.
With the Coalition on a 47 per cent primary vote and Labor on 29 per cent, the results were identical to those of the previous Newspoll conducted from July 22-24.
Labor has been in the polling doldrums for months, with its attempts to bond with voters smashed by the Coalition's campaign of opposition to its proposed carbon tax.
After resolving the details of the carbon tax with the Greens a month ago, Ms Gillard has sought to shift the debate to Labor agenda items and to make good on her promise to make 2011 "the year of decision and delivery".
In an interview with The Weekend Australian, she said she was committed to action on carbon change but was relishing the opportunity to move into Labor's core policy areas of health, education and economic reform.
However, the shift has yet to affect her standing with voters, with the results of the Newspoll taken at the weekend almost identical to those from the July 22-24 survey.
It found satisfaction with Ms Gillard's performance climbed by a single percentage point to 33 per cent, while the percentage of people dissatisfied with her performance dropped a point to 58 per cent.
Thirty-nine percent of respondents were satisfied with Tony Abbott's performance, while 52 per cent were dissatisfied.
The two leaders continued their neck-and-neck race for supremacy in the preferred-prime-minister stakes, both dropping a percentage point in the past fortnight.
The Opposition Leader remained ahead by one percentage point on 40 per cent to Mrs Gillard's 39 per cent, with 21 per cent of respondents undecided.
Ms Gillard's rating as preferred prime minister stood at 44 per cent in the May 27-29 survey - seven percentage points ahead of Mr Abbott.
But as the Opposition Leader toured the nation visiting workplaces on his anti-carbon-tax campaign, his popularity climbed from 37 per cent to 40 per cent by June 24-26, when he overtook Ms Gillard for the first time.
He spread his lead to five percentage points by the July 8-10 survey, in which 43 per cent of respondents named him their preferred prime minister to Ms Gillard's 38 per cent.
But the Prime Minister has since rallied, as the completion of the design of the carbon tax, which will take effect from next July, allowed her to provide clear responses to Mr Abbott's attacks.
While Labor will be disappointed with the latest poll, senior government sources have been telling The Australian for weeks that the government's strategy is to slowly claw back lost ground over coming months.
Ms Gillard told a caucus meetings early last month that she expected the finalisation of the carbon tax design would signal a turning point, but she made it clear she did not expect an overnight turnaround.
The latest poll was conducted over the weekend using telephone interviews with 1144 voters.
The data was weighted to reflect population distribution and the result has a maximum margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
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