Essential Research: 52-48 to Labor

The latest Essential Research result finds little change on voting behaviour, while the monthly leadership ratings are the first from any pollster to show Bill Shorten leading Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister.

The latest weekly result from Essential Research, a rolling average of polling conducted over the past fortnight, shows little change on last week with Labor up a point on the primary vote to 39% and the Greens down one to 9%, while the Coalition and Palmer United are steady on 40% and 5% and Labor’s two-party preferred lead is unchanged at 52-48. The poll also includes the monthly personal ratings, which are the first such results from any pollster showing Bill Shorten leading Tony Abbott on preferred prime minister, the latter’s lead of 42-32 last month crashing to a deficit of 37-36. This is down to a slump in Abbott’s ratings, his approval down six to 35% and disapproval up eight to 55%, with Shorten’s ratings little changed at 35% approval (up one) and 37% disapproval (down one).

In other questions, the poll comprehensively gauged opinion the Commission of Audit’s recommendations, of which three have a positive net approval: university students repaying HELP debt once they earn minimum wage, relocation by unemployed young people to areas of high unemployment to retain access to benefits, and Youth Allowance rather than Newstart for those under 25. The least popular measures were raising the retirement age and increasing interest rates on HELP debts. Respondents thought the Coalition heavily favoured the rich (54%) over the poor (5%) and the average Australian (22%), while tending to place Labor in the middle, with 34% for the average Australian, 16% for the rich and 22% for the poor. The poll found broad awareness that Australia’s national debt was lower than other developed countries (45% believing it lower, 22% higher), and a belief that large companies and high-income earners paid too little tax and small businesses and low-income earners too much.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

2,295 comments on “Essential Research: 52-48 to Labor”

Comments Page 40 of 46
1 … 39 40 41 … 46

  1. [Sweeney, a 22-year-old experienced insulation installer, was similarly electrocuted due to a metal staple contacting live electrical wiring. He had completed the “Ceiling Installers Program”, which was regarded by his employer as having provided adequate safety training. After the death of Fuller, government regulations required the use of plastic staples. However Sweeney possessed his own staple gun designed for metal staples and preferred to use metal staples since he found they made installation faster]

  3. Dee@1941

    Bemused

    An electrician, of all people, should have been fully aware of the risks.


    Enlightening isn’t it?

    It is indeed.

    I mean what is a politician, unless he has a technical background, supposed to know about such things? Ditto for public servants with their arts, economics and law degrees?

  4. Poroti #1935

    In the 80’s I had a caravan and ventured into Queensland for the first time.

    I was amazed by two things.

    1) Every second car had gaping rust holes. i learned that the registration process did not require an inspection of the car.

    2) Ambos were everywhere running raffles to raise $s to run the service …. greatly underfunded by government.

    Of course they were the Joe years where the conservos in power up north were masters of the conservo philosophy …. fill our own pockets first, then our friends’ pockets, and if there’s any left over we’ll buy a few ambulances.

    As for social policies like OH and S, well …….. way down the list.

  5. Retweeted by Tony Windsor
    Doc ‏@Doclach 3m

    @wimmerachic @TonyHWindsor Funny you should say that Vana 😉 pic.twitter.com/dm6rgUrQW0

  6. [I don’t understand how the Australian Government Solicitor (on behalf of Brandis) is allowed to alter a witness statement at the RC.]

    Yep a similar thought had crossed my mind as well. Surely it is up to the Commissioner or his staff?

  9. Senator Penny Wong ‏@SenatorWong 1m

    We get Tim Wilson instead MT @Graemeinnes: Last night’s budget show when I finish in July my position at the commission will not be filled.

  10. The US and the Super Rich
    _________________http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/05/12/362300/russias-moves-in-ukraine-defensive/

    As US witer looks at the way that since the fall of the Soviet Union the conservatives in the west have seen their kind of capitalism triumphant …as a winning force,and as the Fairfax papers show today… the gap now between the super-rich and the Rest has never seen greater than in the last 20 years
    In no other time has there been such a vastly wealthy ruling elite as we now have Tom Picketty looks at this problem in his acclaimed new book “Capitalism in the 21st Century ”
    Abbott and Hockey and their gang, and camp followers like Vanstone seem a perfect product of these times

    Also this period was one in which the US neo-cons…the military arem of predatory capitalism, saw themselves as leading an unchallengable hegemony of US power

    Now they are suddenly confronted with a realisation that they can’t dominate the whole planet as they wish,and notably other powers like Russia and Chinma are just not willing to accept that scenario

    It’s an interesting article showing the crisis that now confronts US policy makers ..faced with a fading economy and other powers that are determined to assert their power

    a return to a kind of “old world order” like Europe prior to 1914..as a new crisis grips capitalism as it did in the 1930ies

  11. psyclaw

    Several PB folk provided a definition and possible context. In the meantime I had ‘googled’ one online dictionary which provided limited context so I was appreciative of their posts. Your point is?

  12. [I have been increasingly impressed by the NSW Minister for Education, Ardrian Piccoli]

    BK Piccoli has been excellent. He was also very respectful towards PMJG, as was BOF.

  14. [BH
    Posted Wednesday, May 14, 2014 at 8:00 pm | PERMALINK
    http://t.co/2biWgz71kL

    Sprocket
    That lady sure has the Lib men under the thumb]

    Peta to Joe: “Tell your wife to change out of that Carla Zampatti designer creation – NOW!”

  16. Abbott has alienated the pensioner groups. Dumb as they used to be his biggest fans.

    [Seniors groups will campaign in marginal seats at the next federal election against indexation changes to the pension and other cost-of-living issues such as the Medicare co-payments.

    The chief executive of the Council on the Ageing (Cota), Ian Yates, and Michael O’Neill, of National Seniors Australia (NSA), confirmed they would campaign to reverse the decisions affecting older Australians in the Abbott government’s first budget.]

  17. [Barnes, a 16-year-old apprentice carpenter, was electrocuted installing fibreglass insulation. He most likely came into contact with a metal ceiling batten which was floating at main’s voltage due to contact with live electical wiring. The wiring had been unusually placed during construction of the building, and subsequently a screw used to attach fibreboard to the batten had penetrated its sheath, creating a dangerous hazard for anyone entering the roof space with the mains power switched on. Barnes had no specific safety training, with his employer believing that his previous experience as an apprentice carpenter was adequate]

  18. psyclaw

    At the time a JTI regular related his experience when due to a downturn he moved from down south to Qld in the building industry. His “shock horror” was how , even back then , any concern about safety he expressed was met by derision.

  20. I just watched Sarah Ferguson on ABC’s 7.30 deliver a concise, policy-focused grilling to Christopher Pyne. She was across the policy details, firmly insisted on answers, and framed her questions on facts and specifics instead of making aggressive hyperbolic statements that just beg to be deflected with platitudes. Am I the only one wishing Sarah Ferguson were the permanent host of 7.30? Leigh Sales is an accomplished journalist but as an interviewer she often prefers aggression to precision, and she wastes time by putting opinionated statements masquerading as questions. Those non-questions invite the politician to filibuster for several minutes and the exchange sheds no light on the issue.

  22. Retweeted by Stephen Koukoulas
    Greg Jericho ‏@GrogsGamut 6m

    Higher education funding in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 budgets pic.twitter.com/MIEMpV4X9T

    2013-14 = more
    2014-15 = less.

  25. To be honest, the only Lib stooge on Sky News defending this budget and the broken promises in Paul Murray.

    PvO and even Chris Kenny have been pretty scathing.

    Richo just teed off.

  26. Zoid

    What I’m getting at is two of these young men were qualified or had knowledge of the hazards and chose to ignore the OHS protocols.

  27. [Abbott has alienated the pensioner groups. Dumb as they used to be his biggest fans.]

    I wonder how much of the seniors vote will transition away from the coalition on the back of the pension cuts come election day? I’m figuring by then all will have been forgotten and forgiven following some strategically targetted bribes in the next two budgets.

  29. [1970
    obama44

    I just watched Sarah Ferguson on ABC’s 7.30 deliver a concise, policy-focused grilling to Christopher Pyne. She was across the policy details, firmly insisted on answers, and framed her questions on facts and specifics instead of making aggressive hyperbolic statements that just beg to be deflected with platitudes. Am I the only one wishing Sarah Ferguson were the permanent host of 7.30?]

    She is outstanding.

  30. gc:

    I have to say I’m shocked to hear CKenny has been scathing of the govt. He’s the last Sky News ‘personality’ I’d imagine to be critical of a Liberal govt.

  32. Dee@1967

    Barnes, a 16-year-old apprentice carpenter, was electrocuted installing fibreglass insulation. He most likely came into contact with a metal ceiling batten which was floating at main’s voltage due to contact with live electical wiring. The wiring had been unusually placed during construction of the building, and subsequently a screw used to attach fibreboard to the batten had penetrated its sheath, creating a dangerous hazard for anyone entering the roof space with the mains power switched on. Barnes had no specific safety training, with his employer believing that his previous experience as an apprentice carpenter was adequate

    Two points:
    1. A 16yo would have not been very far into an apprenticeship, probably only started that year.
    2. So it was previous work that created a hazard just waiting to kill anyone entering the roof cavity. Nothing to do with the actual work he was doing.

  33. I agree, Obama44. Sarah is very good and, I think, getting better by the day. I laughed when she said that she had a standing invitation for Abbott to come on the program. I don’t think Peta is going to allow her inarticulate boy to be so exposed.

  34. I actually doubt many people will go to an ED for a minor problem rather than pay the $7.

    They’d be looking at a minimum four hour wait in the ED because they would get the lowest priority.

    And then they’d just be told to fark off and see their GP anyway.

  35. gloryconsequence

    To my surprise Rat Richo took a size 12 steel cap boot to the HoJo budget. Actually still putting a boot in.

  37. @1976

    The point I was making that while the two men had knowledge, It should be reminded – I seen alot of stupidness over time, it needs to be reminded.

  38. [As a Victorian I don’t have much of a feel for WA politics. But I think there would have to be a fair chance that by coming out in favour of a lift in the GST Barnett has just signed his own death warrant at the next election.
    ]

    I hope so he has always put partisan liberal politics ahead of WA – his betrayal of WA today and his total unwillingness to prosecute the share of the GST debate against Abbott the way he did against labor is a betrayal of WA.

  39. Confessions – Kenny’s attitude shift began when the leaks started about the debt tax being a lie, and how it’ll cost them.

  41. psyclaw

    Actually that definition is quite interesting. I only knew about the third meaning. I didn’t know redact could also mean to put something in writing.

    [1
    : to put in writing : frame
    2
    : to select or adapt (as by obscuring or removing sensitive information) for publication or release; broadly : edit
    3
    : to obscure or remove (text) from a document prior to publication or release]

  42. briefly:

    You’ll be amused to learn that the ‘water cooler chat’ at work today was all about Antarctica sucking away our cold fronts. It seems people here have latched onto that instead of the train wreck federal budget unfolding last night.

  43. [confessions
    Posted Wednesday, May 14, 2014 at 7:53 pm | PERMALINK
    Darn:

    Why do you think that? Barnett has always been strong on an increased share of the GST revenue for this state.
    His comments today simply reinforce that    ]

    Fess

    I think we’re talking about two different things. The grab I saw of Barnett’s comments today indicated that he was in favour of a rise in the rate of the GST – and I’m presuming that would not be very popular with a majority of Western Australians.

    His demands for a fairer share of the GST for WA on the other hand would no doubt be very popular over there.

  44. Bemused

    I acknowledge a 16 year old would not have the experience but got the point on 2.

    This young chap was advised to leave the work site but….

    [Wilson, aged 19, died of complications related to hyperthermia on 21 November 2009. He was working in St Clair, a suburb in western Sydney, where temperatures had climbed to over 40 °C (104 °F). Despite some training at TAFE in installing insulation, Wilson had little experience and was filling in for a friend, unbeknownst to the friend’s employer. Wilson was accompanied by an experienced installer, who removed roof tiles to provide some ventilation. However the high ambient temperature and the strenuous work involved with lifting fibreglass “pink batts” into the roof space appear to have caused Wilson to become dehydrated. He was provided with a caffeinated soft drink by the homeowner, at his request, and his coworker encouraged him to take breaks as required. His coworker then told him to go and wait in the cabin of the truck they were using. Wilson apparently went to the truck, only to return to the roof space, having left his bag behind in the truck. The presence of the bag there gave the impression to the coworker that Wilson had walked off due to being disgruntled about the heat. The coworker went driving in search of Wilson when in fact Wilson had collapsed in the roof space and was found by the homeowner. He was rushed by ambulance to hospital where he later died]

  47. Dio:

    How will the GP tax applied to pathology affect those admitted to general wards? How can that realistically, or even equitably be distinguished from pathology ordered by GPs?

  48. Comrade Deblonay

    Thank you for your reports of the glorious front against US Evil! Keep them coming, comrade, they bring joy to the bosoms of us oppressed Bludgers.

    Thank goodness that Vlad the Irradiator, and Xi, well-known champions of the poor (both are multi-billionaires by way of corruption), champions of democracy in other people’s countries, (but none at all in China and less and less in Putin’s Russia), and of freedom-loving peoples all over the world, (provided they are not russian or chinese), are in the vanguard of the glorious counter-revolution against the imperialist US bad guys and their running dogs.

    Here is something to lift your spirits.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtAfIjRKUak

  50. Richo absolutely whacking Briggs about broken promises. Briggs saying they haven’t broken any.

    Birmingham was the same this morning.

    Basically they’re doing the opposite of what Gillard did. She said “well yeah it’s a tax” regarding the carbon price. Gave up the semantic fight after a day. The Libs will not do that. They’ll say a cat is a dog if it means they don’t have to backtrack.

    That’s why Ferguson’s ability to get Hockey to admit to increased taxes was noted. Hockey slipped.

Comments Page 40 of 46
1 … 39 40 41 … 46

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *