True to form, Essential Research bucks the trend in recording little change this week, with the Coalition down a point on the primary vote to 38%, Labor steady on 41%, the Greens steady on 9%, Palmer United up one to 3%, and two-party preferred unchanged at 54-46. Reflecting other polling, Tony Abbott is now running third as preferred Liberal leader on 11%, behind Malcolm Turnbull on 24% and Julie Bishop on 21%. A semi-regular question on leader attributes is particularly interesting at this point in time, with Tony Abbott up eight points since early December on “erratic” and down nine on “capable”, together with smaller adverse movements on other measures. However, Bill Shorten’s ratings are slightly worse than last time, which I’m inclined to put down to this week’s survey being a somewhat bad sample for Labor, hence their surprising failure to record any improvement on voting intention despite a strong result last week.
Further questions find a 34-34 draw on the question of whether Australia should become a republic, compared with 31-31 when the question was last raised in October; 26% in support of the reintroduction of knights and dames with 46% opposed; and 14% supportive of the Prince Philip knighthood with 69% opposed. Strikingly, a question on the minimum wage finds it to be deemed too low by 61% and too high by only 6%.
William,
The ad that seemed to be an issue was Zip News – a floating video at the top right. Not there at present.
I have been putting up with the page jumping around for a while since installing Addblock an hour or so ago, no jumping and pages refresh a lot more quickly.
Damnation,
you can’t have it all
10,1000 = 10,000
Well my browser has stayed open in PB for more than 30 seconds for the 1st time in 26 hours. Woohoo!
Flash also crashed a couple of times, but then flash is always crashing :P.
[Where’s the other $1.5 million of taxpayers’ money? Who got that?]
Staff and public relations, probably. There would have to be someone of fairly high rank in there somewhere (with the usual hangers-on) to manage a $20 million program, even if it IS a wowserish brainfart.
Will there be an Abbottite amongst us who’ll wail about the loss of their hero for the next 3 years when he gets dumped?
Some problems on my laptop with Chrome – slow loading, text lagging as I type, scrolling seems to have been suttery at times – but otherwise not a great problem.
Oh yes, and Flash crashing three or four times.
Goodness me. Paul kelly on Sky agenda said wtte that even if the Coalition change leaders, they are seriously looking at being a one term govt
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/03/how-giving-prince-philip-a-knighthood-left-australias-pm-fighting-for-survival
I don’t like the headline on the article. Giving Prince Philip the knighthood isn’t what caused the problem. It is merely the straw that broke the camel’s back. If he’s been a good PM all the while, this knighthood would have just blown over as an odd footnote.
It’s looking more and more like Abbott will have to go Rudd-style. Midnight coup followed by an uncontested spill.
There’s a wonderful symmetry in that.
I have a feeling that Abbott would leave politics altogether. Then again, that’s only what a normal person would do.
Abbott doesn’t have the fan base that Rudd had, which was the only reason Rudd stayed on, or more accurately, could brazen it out by staying on.
joffaboy
[So she is a loyal girl……….today]
Bishop has been a loyal deputy to so many leaders.
BB @ 61
Abbott is not Rudd. Not even half the intellect for starters.
You cannot look at what Rudd did to guess at what Abbott will Abbott. Abbott is one of a kind (thank heavens). Let’s just see how this plays out.
BB
[Staff and public relations, probably. There would have to be someone of fairly high rank in there somewhere (with the usual hangers-on) to manage a $20 million program, even if it IS a wowserish brainfart.]
But, how does that work?
Sounds to me like those contingencies were outside the actual budget.
7 months = $1.5 million.
Who got paid for what for 7 months?
The overall $20 million budget was to help relationships.
And the cap itself equalled the budget of $20 million.
I know I’m beating my head against a brick wall, but $1.5 million is a lot of money.
If it can afford to be pissed up against the wall, then I’ll have it, thank you very much.
Raaraa @ 60
Spot on. The thing about the knighthood is not that it showed us how erratic Abbott’s judgment is. We already knew. It would have been just another example for us.
What was really, really significant is that it showed his colleagues and everyone else who had invested their political lives in him that he was beyond redemption.
It is the conservatives whose reactions have kept this going.
“@bevanshields85: Peter Hartcher says majority of partyroom now against Abbott, all needed is a trigger for a challenge/spill #auspol”
The longer the leadership issue continues, the worse for the coalition
Article based on Essential
[An increasing majority of voters view the prime minister, Tony Abbott, as out of touch, arrogant and erratic, according to a new poll that highlights the difficulties he faces in rebuilding confidence in his leadership]
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/03/tony-abbott-increasingly-seen-as-arrogant-out-of-touch-and-erratic-poll?CMP=soc_568
guytaur @ 66
Like a bad case of wind, it will only be a matter of time before the next brainfart can’t be held in any longer..
guytaur
Yep that is what Hartcher said before on sky agenda earlier with Paul kelly and David Speers
It’s time to shine Mal Brough. 🙂
How about this – Bishop, Turnbull and Morrison all stick to their word and don’t throw their hat in the ring.
Could Brough defeat Abbott and emerge as PM?
Re Guytaur @66: a Mal Brough challenge as a trigger?
TPOF
It is definitely his own party and the right wing media that is keeping this going. Reason being is that Abbott is an albatross round their neck
The process will likely be that someone will move a motion that the Leadership be declared vacant Probably by Brough or Entsch). There will be a debate and finally, a vote. My expectations will be that the Ministry will all line up for the No side. There are 102 votes in the Party room. A substantial minority 30-40 will support the spill motion. So, it will be defeated.
At that stage Abbott’s Generals will be told in words of 1 syllable to tell Abbott that it’s over and he has to resign.
BB
I have a feeling that Abbott would leave politics altogether. Then again, that’s only what a normal person would do.
Barry Grange was sitting on Abbott press club address
Tony resigns seat , by election sees Grange not elected
[ “@bevanshields85: Peter Hartcher says majority of partyroom now against Abbott, all needed is a trigger for a challenge/spill #auspol” ]
As usual, most things abbott does make the situation worse.
When the chop comes, the tanties are going to be epic.
“Could Brough defeat Abbott and emerge as PM?” No thanks – I’d rather stick with Tony.
dave
Darwin visited on Canberra? Would Abbott like Giles not accept a party room vote
Okay, back to the tw*t (TWOT doesn’t equal C*@%).
What does this jerk ever do right?
If the msm had been on their game, instead of revelling in cabinet leaks (rather than analysing cabinet leaks) then we might have had a coherent chat about governance.
Instead we had, and still have, idiot journos making idiot assumptions, giving us
The bum’s RUSH.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bloke, actually. BUT it’s still crap that journos (and their publishers) run the country.
Abbott has the street cunning to stay far longer than should ordinarily be the case, given his ineptitude, unpopularity and political tin ear. In a crude, law of the jungle kind of way, he’s been playing it smart these past couple of days: daring his colleagues to cause Labor-style chaos, demanding pledges of loyalty, appearing confident. He’ll see this is some kind of sporting event where he’s bowed but not defeated.
re Abbott – narcissistic or sociopathic, have a look at this pic
on the ABC.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/the-new-frank-gehry-uts-building-is-breathtaking-but-it-was-a-christopher-pyne-remark-at-its-opening-that-drew-audible-gasps-20150202-133x7u.html
In politicising an event of opening a building like that, Pyne risks not being invited to future similar events.
William
I don’t know if it helps, but my troubles started in the last couple of days or so. The point is that if something new was done or loaded over the past two-four days then that might be culprit. I can’t be any closer as to the time but other sharper Bludgers might be able to pinpoint a time.
Guytaur
[ Would Abbott like Giles not accept a party room vote]
Quite possibly IMO.
But apart from tanties and poison pressers, his number would be up and few if any supporters.
Pure ‘on ya bike’ stuff.
RaaRaa
[I don’t like the headline on the article. Giving Prince Philip the knighthood isn’t what caused the problem. It is merely the straw that broke the camel’s back. If he’d been a good PM all the while, this knighthood would have just blown over as an odd footnote.]
But then again, had he been ‘a good PM’ it’s hard to imagine that the idea would have occurred to him, much less that he would not have discussed it with others whose judgement he trusted. One suspects he didn’t discuss it with others precisely because he knew that they’d object that it was completely ridiculous (and ill-timed given the QLD election).
That this was a reason to make yet another ‘captain’s pick’ shows how far from reality his state of mind was and is. He once said that it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission, and as with his other ‘captain’s picks’ this one was an absolute howler — and this one was easy for even those who read the Tele with their lips moving to get their heads around.
@KJBar: Paul Keating of Potts Point RT @kjob85 Keating letter in today’s Herald http://t.co/TnfLTeHgxy
Tricot@29
The German Field Marshal was named ERWIN Rommel, not ERNST.
Desert Pox picked up on that small error.
[When the chop comes, the tanties are going to be epic.]
I want to see him explode in public. Completely effing lose it in front of the cameras, and start ranting about being betrayed by the people.
We have earned that show.
kezza
Do you think the idiot was in fact making reference to Ernst Rohm??
Otherwise, what was he on about?
As suggested by someone earlier, disabling JavaScript for crikey.com.au in Chrome fixed my problems with Poll Bludger. I was having trouble scrolling, slow loading times etc.
Maybe it was Manfred Rommel?
Tricot
I always thought it was “Beau”.
Just me
Abbott is after all the man who has punched walls and Joe Hockey and adopted a threatening pose in the Parliament.
I have often wondered how close he was to losing it and punching the reporter in the “shit happens” interview.
His modus operandi now is to walk away from questions. Pity he won’t walk away from his job.
Manfred Mann?
Just Me
[ I want to see him explode in public. Completely effing lose it in front of the cameras, and start ranting about being betrayed by the people.]
Probably a good chance of it.
Sir Mad Cyril
I and others had problems on an iPad. My PC running chrome has been fine.
Surely you Geste GG.
Fair enough FB.
It just goes to show how he really thinks.
If he goes ahead and do regardless of what his party team think, it’s not hard to make that link that what the electorate thinks is not his immediate concern.
“@vanOnselenP: I hear Mal Brough will have something rather newsworthy to say aft his speech tonight…”
I haven’t had a scintilla of problem with PB, chrome browser or not..
I thought, wowsers, for the first time in my life I’M the PRE-EMINENT personage on here.
That’d be a first.