The Sunday News Corp tabloids have published the first national poll of voting intention in nearly two weeks, and it’s consistent with the last Newspoll result (conducted by the same organisation) in showing Labor with a lead of 52-48. This compares with 53-47 at the last such poll in March. The primary votes are Coalition 37% (up two), Labor 37% (steady), Greens 9% (down one), United Australia Party 4% (steady, which is interesting) and One Nation 4% (down four, ditto).
It may perhaps be more instructive to compare the changes with last fortnight’s Newspoll result – both major parties are down two, probably making way for the UAP, who were not a response option in Newspoll. Presumably they will be in the Newspoll we can expect tomorrow evening, as they were in its marginal seat polls a week ago. Peter Brent at Inside Story smells a conspiracy, but I imagine the pollster’s position would be that the party merits such consideration because it is contesting all 151 seats.
Respondents were also asked if they were impressed or unimpressed with the campaign performances of six party leaders, all of whom perform poorly. Listed from best result to worst, Scott Morrison is on 38% impressed and 54% not impressed; Bill Shorten, 31% and 60%; Pauline Hanson, 20% and 67%; Richard Di Natale, 13% and 44%: Clive Palmer, 17% and 69%; and Michael McCormack, 8% and 38%. They were also asked if nine specific issues could potentially change their vote, with cost of living well ahead out of a somewhat arbitrary field on 58%. It seems they were also asked which party they trusted on this issues, since the report says there was nothing to separate them on cost of living, which at Holt Street qualifies as a “positive sign for the Prime Minister”. The poll was conducted Tuesday to Thursday from a sample of 1012.
New campaign updates for the federal election guide, including a seat poll result:
Curtin (Liberal 20.7%): Independent candidate Louise Stewart has provided The West Australian with results of a ReachTEL poll crediting her with a 23.9% primary vote. Liberal candidate Celia Hammond is on 42.5%, compared with the 65.5% Julie Bishop achieved in 2016, with Labor on 12.6% and the Greens on 11.3%. It is also stated that the polls show preferences dividing evenly between Stewart and Hammond, which seems rather unlikely, since Labor and Greens preferences will assuredly flow overwhelmingly to Stewart. The sample for the poll was 819, but the field work date is unspecified. UPDATE (29/4): The West Australian today brings the remarkable news that ReachTEL denies having conducted any such poll.
Gilmore (Liberal 0.7%): Katrina Hodgkinson, Nationals candidate and former O’Farrell-Baird government minister, has been endorsed by the outgoing Liberal member, Ann Sudmalis, and her predecessor, Joanna Gash. This amounts to a snub to the endorsed Liberal, Warren Mundine, who is facing a tough fight against Labor’s Fiona Phillips.
Solomon (Labor 6.1%) and Lingiari (Labor 8.2%): The Northern Territory has been commanding considerable attention from the two leaders, with Scott Morrison visiting on Wednesday and Bill Shorten having done so twice, most recently when he attended a dawn service in Darwin on Anzac Day. In the Financial Review, Phillip Coorey reports the seats are “deemed vulnerable principally because the NT Labor government is unpopular”, and in Solomon, “there is a very high rate of voters, mainly military personnel, with negatively geared properties”.
Warringah (Liberal 11.6%): Tony Abbott received an increasingly rare dose of useful publicity after GetUp! pulled an ill-advised online ad that mocked his surf lifesaving activities. The next day, a Daily Telegraph report appeared to relate what Liberal internal polling might say about the matter, but could only back it up by sprinkling fairy dust on a month-old finding that two-thirds of those considering voting independent would have “serious concerns” if such a candidate was “likely to support Labor or the Greens”.
Mayo (Centre Alliance 2.9%): A volunteer for Rebekha Sharkie’s campaign, and a now-suspended member of GetUp!, was charged on Wednesday for stalking Liberal candidate Georgina Downer.
Herbert (Labor 0.0%): Labor member Cathy O’Toole has signed a pledge being circulated by business groups to support the Adani coal mine, making life difficult for Bill Shorten, who is prepared to offer only that Labor has “no plans” to review environmental approvals. Labor’s candidates for the Coalition-held central Queensland seats of Dawson, Flynn and Capricornia have all signed a similar pledge circulated by the CFMEU, and Shorten has likewise refused to follow suit.
Senate developments:
• The third candidate on Labor’s New South Wales Senate ticket, Mary Ross, was a late withdrawal before the closure of nominations over what was described only as a personal decision, although it probably related to concerns that Section 44 complications might arise from her receipt of government payments as a medical practitioner. Her replacement is Jason Yat-sen Li, an Australian-Chinese lawyer for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal, and the candidate for Bennelong in 2013.
• New South Wales Liberal Senator and conservative favourite Jim Molan is running a “parallel campaign” to encourage Liberal voters to vote below the line, so he might circumvent a preselection defeat that has reduced him to the unwinnable fourth position on the party’s ticket. Such a feat was achieved in Tasmania in 2016 by Labor’s Lisa Singh, elected from number six ahead of Labor’s fifth candidate, but New South Wales has none of Tasmania’s experience with the candidate-oriented Hare-Clark system, and a great many more voters needing to be corralled.
• Craig Garland, who polled 10.6% at the Braddon by-election last July, is running for a Tasmanian Senate seat as an independent. An authentically crusty looking professional fisherman who has campaigned on the locally contentious matter of salmon farming, Garland told the Burnie Advocate he had knocked back an offer of $1 million campaign funding if he ran for Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party. Matthew Denholm of The Australian notes Garland’s potential to leech votes from Jacqui Lambie, who is seeking a comeback 18 months after being disqualified on Section 44 grounds.
Has Paul Murray eaten another human lately? He seems to be growing at an alarming rate.
sprocket:
Clive ads!
Holden Hillbilly @ #997 Sunday, April 28th, 2019 – 9:26 pm
You’re just as bad in your own way.
Hurry up ffs
C@t:
What was the legislation?
Holy shit, a questioner thanks Dutton for getting rid of the worst PM the country has had and the applause goes through the roof!
51/49 confirmed
49/51
This will flummox the Holt St crew..
51-49 confirmed
HH
Only 50% ? And the rest. Get real.
Lets see them primaries
Sceptic says:
Sunday, April 28, 2019 at 9:27 pm
Dutton said he wants to pass legislation to prevent a GetUp in future.
Proof GetUp is killing them in the youth demographic… The Liberal / Country Party are paranoid
Political repression is always in the kit bag carried by Libs.
So that’s it. Anything on primaries at all?
And there it is. 51-49 to ALP
Sadly, I was right
The way the Tories were crowing, I thought it would’ve been 50/50 or worse. It’s better than most polls they’ve got but not by much.
Still the holidays put a big break on usual procedings. Next 4 weeks will be key.
All of a sudden, PPM is unreliable. 😆
“Lets see them primaries”
Yep.
Preferred PM
Morrison 45 (1)
Shorten 37 (+2).
#Newspoll Federal Primary Votes: L/NP 38 (-1) ALP 37 (-2) #auspol
3 pint shift in PPM & 2 PP unchanged.. is that possible?
Ghost saying. Both majors down on primaries. Weird.
Primaries are 38 LNP, 37 Labor.
Which makes me think it’s more like 51.5/48.5.
Federal Primary Votes: L/NP 38 (-1) ALP 37 (-2)
Clive’s got 5% national vote
LNP 38 (-1) Alp 37 (-2)
LOL the Sky people’s forum audience all applaud at the latest Newspoll results. LNP 38% PV, ALP 37%
Federal Primary Votes: L/NP 38 (-1) ALP 37 (-2)
3 pint shift in PPM & 2 PP unchanged.. is that possible?
____
Because PPM means nothing.
The ad man now has a negative netsat
#Newspoll Morrison: Approve 45 (0) Disapprove 46 (+2) #auspol
MOE?
Ghost saying. Both majors down on primaries. Weird.
News cooking the books ( vis lard arse Palmer ) to save Liberals throwing themselves off the roof
Morrison: Approve 45 (0) Disapprove 46 (+2)
Full primaries please
Clive’s got 5% of national vote.
Confessions says:
Sunday, April 28, 2019 at 9:30 pm
Holy shit, a questioner thanks Dutton for getting rid of the worst PM the country has had and the applause goes through the roof!
Not a big surprise. The Heavy-Libs always mistrusted Turnbull. The Sky audiences are self-selecting crazies.
Sounds more rogue than Galaxy.
UAP on 5
……
An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows the Coalition has improved its two party preferred vote by one point and now trails Labor 49-51.
While it is the best result for the government under Scott Morrison’s leadership, both major parties have lost popular support as Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party locks in 5 per cent of the primary vote nationally to emerge as the leading minor party after the Greens.
The Coalition’s primary vote fell from 39 per cent to 38 per cent in the past two weeks. Labor’s has fallen two points to 37 per cent over the same period.
Despite the narrowing contest, Labor would be on track win the election based on the latest survey’s results.
Bill Shorten has recorded his highest approval rating since March 2015 with 39 per cent of voters satisfied with his performance marking a 2-point rise on the last poll.
He has also narrowed the gap as preferred prime minister, lifting his numbers two points to 37 per cent compared to a one point drop to 45 per cent for Mr Morrison.
Mr Morrison’s approval ratings remained unchanged on 45 per cent although disapproval rose two points to 46 per cent, putting him back into negative territory.
The latest Newspoll of 2136 voters surveyed between April 26 and April 28 marks a six-point turnaround for the Coalition since March 7 when it trailed 46-54.
How does the Coalition get to 49% with a 38% primary? That makes no sense.
Clive’s got 5% of national vote.
_____
Money can buy anything.
Now everybody keep calm; remember error bands; and sanity checks.
Shorten improving on PPM and approvals would be normal sign of campaign. Would be concerning if he didn’t.
Those primaries look on the high side of 51% to me? Coalition need more than 38%>
New thread.
I can’t watch this Sky drivel anymore.
Cool. Time for everyone to pull their heads out of their arses and take this one seriously. Everyone so far has been running a dismal campaign and making sloppy errors (don’t care what the filtered views of the rusted-ons are.)
So, how many ON votes have gone to UAP?