Essential Research coronavirus latest, Roy Morgan federal voting intention

Essential Research finds public support for governments’ handling of coronavirus not quite what it was, while Roy Morgan records the Coalition moving into a commanding lead.

As reported by The Guardian, the latest fortnightly Essential Research poll finds approval of Scott Morrison’s handling of COVID-19 at 61%, which is off from a high of 72% in June. Approval ratings for state governments in New South Wales as well as Victoria are also trending gently downwards, with both having lost two points in the past fortnight, leaving them at 59% and 47% respectively. The Western Australian government continues to lead the field on 84%, though this too is down two on last time, with due regard to the very small sample size.

The poll also suggests Australians are unsentimental about civil liberties in the face of COVID-19, with 65% favouring closing the border to all foreign travellers and 52% supporting dedicated quarantine facilities for convalescents. Concerning outbreaks at aged care clinics, 42% blamed the providers, 30% the federal goverment and 28% state governments, and 70% believed the situation had been aggravated by long-term under-funding. The poll also gauged support for taxpayers to underwrite new gas infrastructure at 27% for, 27% against and 32% for neither. The poll was conducted from 1068 respondents from Thursday to Sunday; the pollster will publish its full report will be published later today.

UPDATE: Full report here. It should be noted that the 61% approval rating for handling of COVID-19 related to “the government” rather than Scott Morrison.

We also had on Friday one of the occasional Roy Morgan polls on federal voting intention, which finds the Coalition lead out to 54-46 from 51.5-48.5 when the last such poll was published in mid-July. The Coalition is up 2.5% on the primary vote to 46%, with Labor down one to 32.5%, the Greens steady on 11% and One Nation up half a point to 3%. The poll was conducted over the previous two weekends by phone and online interviewing from a sample of 2841.

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.

1,705 comments on “Essential Research coronavirus latest, Roy Morgan federal voting intention”

Comments Page 3 of 35
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  1. mundo @ #93 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 9:34 am

    Spray @ #78 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 9:28 am

    Gene Miles @ #75 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 9:18 am

    It doesn’t work that way. Oppositions don’t get that sort of media oxygen. Never have, never will.

    Except in the RGR years when almost every ABC News bulletin led with “The Federal Opposition says…”.

    …the ABC ‘ the Abbott Broadcasting Corporation’ as some of us called it.
    Remember Miles?

    It was quite extraordinary. Whenever I mention it I’m aware that it sounds like parochial whinging, but it absolutely happened. The first thing you would hear about a government announcement was the Abbott denunciation of it.

    Not aware of it happening before or since, certainly not to that extent anyway.

  2. lizzie @ #86 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 9:30 am

    Bucephalus and right-wingers. You don’t get the point. The rules will be made by the Health CMO.

    As numbers reduce restrictions will ease! However Without a declared state of emergency in place a government cannot enforce mandatory isolation of covid infected persons, cannot enforce quarantine of international arrivals, cannot enforce distancing or any other measures.

    Exactly, that decision is necessitated by the health outcomes the state government wants to achieve.

    However, I bet I can guess Buce’s opinion about the increasingly Surveillance State nature of much of the Morrison government’s legislation.

  3. Confessions @ #92 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 9:35 am

    Gene Miles:

    I think mundo started off being genuinely concerned about the ALP, but as more people started responding with aggravation to him, his comments are now a kind of sport.

    I’ve long been of the view that if people simply ignored the flaming those commenters would change their tune or go away.

    Forget the tune, I’m struggling to remember all 14 verses of ‘Morristan, My Morristan’

    But I’ll give it a go;

    Morristan, My Morristan
    How beautiful art thee!
    Oh Mor..i..s

    Fck it….

  4. Actually, I think Taylormade showed a degree of empathy for Mikakos. I’m proud of him.

    With the emphasis on, ‘I think’. 🙂

  5. I hope you all picked up that Morrison is using his curry cooking theme in the same way that Boris Johnson used his drawings of buses – as a distracting unicorn, recommended by Lynton Crosby. Morrison never has an original idea.

  6. lizziesays:
    Tuesday, August 25, 2020 at 9:42 am
    I hope you all picked up that Morrison is using his curry cooking theme in the same way that Boris Johnson used his drawings of buses – as a distracting unicorn, recommended by Lynton Crosby. Morrison never has an original idea.
    ___________________
    Scomos’ Samosas look pretty good.

  7. Spray,
    I have a missive from Cud Chewer for you 🙂

    ‘A word for Spray (you can post this if you want)

    Watch the trend in cases of unknown source..

    https://www.covid19data.com.au/transmission-sources-states

    The trend presently isn’t down and if it does trend down, it may not show for a month.

    Two causes for concern:
    1. Behaviour – at least in certain cohorts – may have gotten less cautious since June (why aren’t we mandating masks?)
    2. Super spreaders (do ya feel lucky? Well do ya… punk?)’

  8. Spray @ #98 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 9:38 am

    mundo @ #93 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 9:34 am

    Spray @ #78 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 9:28 am

    Gene Miles @ #75 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 9:18 am

    It doesn’t work that way. Oppositions don’t get that sort of media oxygen. Never have, never will.

    Except in the RGR years when almost every ABC News bulletin led with “The Federal Opposition says…”.

    …the ABC ‘ the Abbott Broadcasting Corporation’ as some of us called it.
    Remember Miles?

    It was quite extraordinary. Whenever I mention it I’m aware that it sounds like parochial whinging, but it absolutely happened. The first thing you would hear about a government announcement was the Abbott denunciation of it.

    Not aware of it happening before or since, certainly not to that extent anyway.

    ‘Opposition leader Tony Abbott said today the Prime minister’s announcement…..’

    This is how the PMs ‘announcement’ would be reported.

  9. Bucephalus the current carry on highlights just how dishonest the religious right is, nothing more and nothing less.

    Fortunately the upper house is a divers lot, only an additional two votes required and the impotent ranting of the religious right will have little effect.

  10. Bucephalus the current carry on highlights just how dishonest the religious right is, nothing more and nothing less.

    Fortunately the upper house is a divers lot, only an additional two votes required and the impotent ranting of the religious right will have little effect.

  11. lizzie @ #107 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 9:42 am

    I hope you all picked up that Morrison is using his curry cooking theme in the same way that Boris Johnson used his drawings of buses – as a distracting unicorn, recommended by Lynton Crosby. Morrison never has an original idea.

    All I can ever think of when I read another curry post from Morrison is, no wonder he had an urgent problem to attend to at Engadine Maccas. 😀

  12. Morning all. Congratulations to the NT Labor Gunnar government on its resounding victory, now confirmed at at least 14 seats.

    Congratulations also to this group of eminent climate scientists, who have called out Australia’s “chief scientist” (who is actually an engineer with no qualifications or work history in climate science) and directly criticised the falsity that expanding gas production in Australia is a “solution” to climate change. It is merely a bailout of a bankrupt, highly polluting industry.
    https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/australia-s-chief-scientist-is-wrong-on-gas-say-leading-experts-20200824-p55oty.html

    Lets hope Joel Fitzgibbon and other weaklings who lack commitment to Labor policy on climate change give up supporting the pack of lies that is Scomo’s gas policy.

  13. Someone tell Lizzie I’m off to feed the cows.
    Won’t be back for many an hour
    My heart is down my head is turning around
    I had to leave PB hanging
    In Morristown.

  14. Dumb as box of hammers, or deliberately destructive. Don’t they want to beat the virus?

    Craig Ondarchie MP
    @CraigOndarchie
    ·
    20h
    I will not support this bloke @DanielAndrewsMP trying to lock you down in your home until September next year, 2021. The extension of his unfettered, unaccountable, uncoordinated, uncooperative government in Victoria is unacceptable.

  15. Thanks for the Cud Chewer update C@t, and thanks Cud. No surprise that he continues to adopt a very cautious stance.

    But even he would have to admit that this was not a trajectory that any of us expected, ie a now-extended period of rumbling along at very low numbers without a significant movement in either direction.

    Something has to give at some point, just hope it’s in the right direction.

  16. [‘But the menacing remark quickly backfired as Brazilian journalists flooded social media with the very same question.

    “President Jair Bolsonaro, why did your wife Michelle receive 89,000 reais from Fabrício Queiroz?” they tweeted in unison at Brazil’s far-right leader.’]

    Great to see the Brazilian media closing ranks behind the journo who was threatened by the thug & Trump clone Bolsonaro:

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/24/jair-bolsonaro-threat-journalist-backfires-social-media

  17. Anthony Albanese just dropped Labor’s theme for the rest of the year – and into next year – when the election campaign will begin (whether it is official or not)

    There are two themes behind our approach: during the pandemic, no-one left behind. During the recovery, no-one held back.

  18. Been reflecting on the pols.
    I know we all believe but:

    Murdock wanted to get rid of Turnbull, I think this is well established.
    It is now known he poles were out by about 2%.
    Was the error; polling error or propitiatory error.

    If the propitiatory error is 2%, which way is it leaning now. Does Murdock want to keep Morrison in power.

    And yes, the use of the polls against JG was a disgrace.

  19. Craig Ondarchie MP is a Liberal PM, does it really matter what verbiage he sprays. I wonder which religious grouping he belongs to?

  20. Phillip Lodge
    @phlogga
    ·
    8m
    If the Victorian parliament, specifically the upper house, refuses to endorse the extension of the State of Emergency, it is effectively taking control of dealing with the pandemic. Will the LNP and minor parties accept responsibility for the consequences?

  21. If mundo et al continue to carp at Albanese after that speech just then in front of the ALP Caucus, then they are exposed for what they really are. It was the best speech I have heard Albanese give in a very long time.

    Thank you, davidwh for alerting me to it.

  22. Bluebottle

    Makes me wonder which Liberal donor lobbied for this.

    Johanne Martens, an ecologist at Deakin University, said she was concerned control measures weren’t listed for some common parrot diseases, such as beak and feather disease.

    She said there were several other risks, including that introduced captive parrots could escape and become feral populations that threaten native species and that opening legal imports would also facilitate the illicit trade of animals.

    “I don’t really see any arguments in favour. I can see why some zoos and wildlife parks might want to get more exotic species but I don’t really see why it’s necessary. We have such an incredible variety of birds here already,” Martens said.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/25/federal-government-considers-lifting-ban-on-importing-parrots-25-years-after-it-was-introduced

  23. frednk @ #123 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 9:58 am

    Craig Ondarchie MP is a Liberal PM, does it really matter what verbiage he sprays. I wonder which religious grouping he belongs to?

    Yep. Another ‘Lame Gay Churchy Loser bastard’:

    Craig Philip Ondarchie (born 28 June 1962) is an Australian politician representing the Liberal Party in the Victorian Legislative Council. He attended Kingswood College (Box Hill) and has been a member of the Liberal Party since 1997. [1]

    Ondarchie worked for over a decade in business development, two years as executive director of the Royal Women’s Hospital, and eight years as managing partner of the Melbourne corporate governance organisation, RADNO.[2]

    He was elected to the Northern Metropolitan Region at the 2010 Victorian Election,[3] and currently sits on parliamentary committees overseeing environment and planning legislation, public accounts and estimates, and environment and planning references. On 25 April 2013, Ondarchie was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier of Victoria.

    After the 2014 Victorian state election, Ondarchie became a member of the Opposition front bench, serving as Shadow Minister for Investment and Jobs and Shadow Minister for Trade.[4] Ondarchie caused controversy in 2018 during debate on a bill in the Legislative Council that would have, among other things, given presumptive rights to firefighters who had contracted cancer as part of their work. Ondarchie requested a pair, and was granted one after saying to the chamber “I do not want to be here. Today I want to be right now with my church family”.[5] Ondarchie was granted a pair, but then returned to Parliament the following morning to vote against the bill, which caused the bill to be defeated[6] and presumptive rights to be delayed to firefighters with cancer.

    Ondarchie failed to reach a quota in his own right at the 2018 Victorian state election, but was re-elected only with the help of preferences.

  24. Telling statistics from President Racial Justice.

    Perhaps most ludicrous is Trump’s regular claim that he is practically the best president ever for Blacks. He has a single Black Cabinet official, and his senior staff is almost entirely devoid of African Americans. He has not nominated a single African American to an appellate court. (As Bloomberg Law reports: “Just one of Trump’s 53 confirmed appeals court judges is Hispanic and none are Black. That compares to about 27% of President Barack Obama’s and roughly 15% under President George W. Bush, according to a Bloomberg Law analysis of Federal Judicial Center data.”)

    Trump and many of his Cabinet officials have denied there is systemic racism in the United States. Trump continues to spew racist rhetoric, plays to Whites’ fears of integration and defends symbols of white supremacy. He has declined to pursue police reforms designed to decrease police abuse, which falls heavily on African Americans. The Post also reports that the administration has “severely curtailed” pattern-or-practice cases against police forces designed to address discriminatory behavior “along with other efforts to force broad police reforms or quell civil unrest — as the Justice Department’s posture has shifted to one that is far more deferential to law enforcement.”

    Blacks have suffered far more than Whites with regard to the pandemic. On a per capita basis, Blacks are 2.6 times as likely to contract the coronavirus, 4.7 times as likely to be hospitalized and 2.1 times as likely to die from it.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/24/trump-convention-ultimate-gaslighting-exercise/?hpid=hp_save-opinions-float-right-4-0_opinion-card-e-right%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

  25. C@T,
    I’m still allowed to be negative. Albo’s words need to translate into actions. So if I see him making noise everyday until the election I’ll stay mum. But if this burst of energy only lasts this sitting period then the ALP is in trouble.

  26. Things are grim in bricks and mortar retail..

    ‘Fashion retailer Mosaic Brands has swung to a massive $212 million loss and will close as many as 500 stores across the country after the retailer was ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    At its full-year results announced on Tuesday, Mosaic’s chief executive Scott Evans, who operates brands such as Noni B, Rivers, Millers and Katies, told shareholders the company had been “utterly derailed” by the coronavirus pandemic.’

    Whilst Stokes is in trouble…

    ‘Seven West Media’s statutory earnings have tumbled 49 per cent to $129.5 million in the full financial year, hit by a weak advertising market caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

    The Kerry Stokes-controlled broadcasting and publishing company also reported a 14 per cent fall in revenue to $1.2 billion, but managed to reduce its net debt by $143.5 million from its half year results to $398 million. Net loss after tax was $200.1 million, an improvement from last year.

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/coronavirus-updates-live-victorian-transmission-drops-daniel-andrews-fights-for-state-of-emergency-20200825-p55oy4.html

  27. The direct link between gov MPs and The Australian.

    Conor Duffy
    @conorduffynews

    An #auspol miracle. I called Andrew Gee’s office today to ask about amendments to the government’s uni reforms. I was told no comments had been made to any media outlet but as we chatted they somehow appeared as breaking news in the @australian – truly a magical office! #highered

    Andrew Gee, Nationals. Minister for Decentralisation and Regional Education

  28. How can we possibly have confidence in the environment department over international trading of any creatures? Her is one example from 2018.

    “The Australian government was repeatedly warned of concerns about ACTP by international wildlife authorities, private breeders and the government MP Warren Entsch.”

    The same Warren Entsch who is pushing to allow feral parrot imports. Hmm.

  29. It’s getting tighter.

    Political Polls@Politics_Polls
    ·
    4h
    TEXAS
    Biden 48% (+1)
    Trump 47%

    @ppppolls, RV, 8/21-22

    Political Polls@Politics_Polls
    ·
    9h
    OHIO
    Biden 47% (+1)
    Trump 46%

    @TargetSmart/@ProgressOhio (D) 7/28-8/3

    And if we were paying attention to national polls (which we aren’t but this is posted for shits and giggles):

    Political Polls@Politics_Polls
    ·
    2h
    National GE:
    Biden 49% (+9)
    Trump 40%
    Jorgensen 2%
    Hawkins 1%
    West 1%

    @leger360, LV, 8/21-23
    https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/20200824_National.pdf

  30. Has every PM always rudely turned his/her back when the Opposition Leader is speaking? Tony Abbott too? Can’t remember.

    Pretty sure Howard did. But hard to judge on photos alone if they do it often enough to be considered rude.

    Morrison is just using it to washout the images of Albo due to the increase in reflected light 😉

  31. Simon Katich @ #146 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 8:40 am

    Has every PM always rudely turned his/her back when the Opposition Leader is speaking? Tony Abbott too? Can’t remember.

    Pretty sure Howard did. But hard to judge on photos alone if they do it often enough to be considered rude.

    Morrison is just using it to washout the images of Albo due to the increase in reflected light 😉

    Rudd used to do it. Howard routinely did it and possibly Keating also.

  32. It’s getting tighter.

    Not sure we should put too much weight on those polls.
    Waiting for the big guns to come out which I am guessing will be after the RNC.

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