Essential Research: leadership and COVID-19 approval ratings

A narrowing lead for Scott Morrison as preferred prime minister punctuates an otherwise stable picture in Essential Research’s latest set of leadership and COVID-19 performance ratings.

The Guardian reports the latest fortnightly Essential Research poll includes its monthly leadership ratings, which find Scott Morrison’s lead over Anthony Albanese as preferred prime minister is now at 49-26, in from 55-22 last time and the narrowest it has been since early February. However, movements on leaders’ ratings are apparently more modest: Morrison is down two on approval to 64%, with his disapproval rating yet to be disclosed (UPDATE: Up five to 28%, so perhaps not as modest as that), while Albanese is steady on approval at 44% and down one on disapproval to 29%.

Fifty-nine per cent now express approval for the federal government’s handling of the pandemic, down two on a fortnight ago. The poll was conducted before Sunday’s announcement of extended restrictions in Victoria, but the small-sample breakdown for that state finds approval of the state government’s performance up three to 50%, compared with falls of two points in New South Wales to 57% and six points in Queensland to 66%. The WA government is up three to a new high of 87%, although at this point sample sizes get very small indeed: as with much else in this poll, we will have to wait for the publication of the full report this afternoon for numbers from South Australia. The latter figure aside, the following chart shows how the various governments’ favourable ratings on this measure have progressed since March:

Concerning COVID-19 outbreaks in aged care facilities, 41% now blame the providers, down a point on a fortnight ago, with 31% blaming the federal government, up three, and 28% blaming state and territory governments, down two. The poll finds 36% support for increasing the Medicare levy from 2% to 2.65% to fund improvements to aged care, with 32% opposed and 32% uncommitted.

Forty-nine per cent favoured a proposition that Google and Facebook should have to pay for news content, compared with 38% for the alternative that “it is not up to the tech giants to support media companies” (as per the wording in The Guardian’s report). The poll was conducted Thursday to Sunday from a sample of 1076.

UPDATE: Full report here.

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.

1,463 comments on “Essential Research: leadership and COVID-19 approval ratings”

Comments Page 5 of 30
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  1. Assantdj says:
    Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    “In regional areas the government pays the bill for the rich elderly because most of them have all their assets in trusts.”

    Beneficial interests of beneficiaries of Trusts are included in assessments.

  2. Bushfire Bill @ #155 Tuesday, September 8th, 2020 – 11:15 am

    Victoria, looks like our gut feeling was right about ScoMo. He is showing signs of panic, and reverting to his customary disloyal self.

    Leopards don’t change their spots after all.

    Kath Murphy wrote the other day that he disdains Parliamentary processes and traditions, believing that “getting on with the job” Trumps all. I think It’s an accurate observation.

    Problem is: we live in a Parliamentary democracy.

    ScoMo always ends up going it alone, and always comes a cropper when he does so.

    ..’and always comes a cropper when he does so.’
    Oh I see now, that’s how he became Prime minister.
    It’s so obvious now.

  3. Lol Victoria – tell me exactly where I predicted a lib win in E-m?

    I owned my wrong call in NT as I did my correct call in 2019.

    You – you never trouble anyone with an original thought!

    As someone once said – it’s a pity stupid isn’t painful.

  4. mundo @ #197 Tuesday, September 8th, 2020 – 12:12 pm

    Bushfire Bill @ #155 Tuesday, September 8th, 2020 – 11:15 am

    Victoria, looks like our gut feeling was right about ScoMo. He is showing signs of panic, and reverting to his customary disloyal self.

    Leopards don’t change their spots after all.

    Kath Murphy wrote the other day that he disdains Parliamentary processes and traditions, believing that “getting on with the job” Trumps all. I think It’s an accurate observation.

    Problem is: we live in a Parliamentary democracy.

    ScoMo always ends up going it alone, and always comes a cropper when he does so.

    ..’and always comes a cropper when he does so.’
    Oh I see now, that’s how he became Prime minister.
    It’s so obvious now.

    ‘… we live in a Parliamentary democracy.’
    With a fully functioning opposition?

  5. Bushfire Bill

    …The constant negative reporting on small businesses is another device they use to depress the public. Night after night after night we hear from businesses, travellers, psychologists etc. how miserable we all are due to lockdowns…

    By preaching gloom and doom (especially in Victoria), Morrison and the MSM are harming the businesses they are claiming to support. If consumer confidence falls through the floor because people believe these imbeciles, then businesses will fail and the result will certainly be gloom and doom all around. Perhaps this is what they really want to happen, so they can get some sort of warped satisfaction in blaming the Victorian premier. Never mind the number of lives and livelihoods they have destroyed in the process.

  6. Bucephalus @ #198 Tuesday, September 8th, 2020 – 10:08 am

    zoomster says:
    Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 12:01 pm
    “‘If you are going to ask that for the virus then why not ask it for suicides, car accidents, cancer and every other cause of death?’

    Sorry, can you explain how closing down the borders (or other lockdown measures) would help with these?”

    It’s not about closing borders to help those causes of death it’s about how much of society’s resources will be invested and what restrictions placed on society to stop various deaths. Ban smoking – but they don’t. Ban cycling- no more cycling deaths.

    Are you really that stupid?

    By the way, Sweden’s doing well, isn’t it?

    More deaths, greater economic impact.

  7. I don’t know what’s happened since, but lots of aged care homes were left in a parlous state after the GFC.

    Residents assets were put into trust accounts and the dividend earned through investments paid for their care.

    During the GFC, investments crashed, and many aged care services basically went bankrupt – although they’d lost the money in trust, they still had to pay it back when the resident died or left.

    Wouldn’t be surprised if much of the present problems with aged care are to do with this.

    (Our local service was lucky, they were warned by a local accountant that things were looking risky and redirected the investments into the big four banks).

  8. citizen

    That only works politically if voters don’t see the party talking down the economy ignoring voters seeing the health worries.

    The LNP have their fingers all over it.

    It’s desperation politics because following Thatcher and Reagan economics is exactly what not to do in a recession. Absent world effects this mob will get booted out because of the Depression they create.

  9. Alpha Zero says:
    Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 12:08 pm

    “The stage up the Col de Peyresourde was not a good look with the road being so crowded…”

    That’s the TdF. Good on them.

    “As for Compact Cranks, surely there’s not a huge demand for them in WA.”

    Riding up Welshpool Road in Lesmurdie or Green Mount five times in an afternoon training to go riding in the French Alps, Pyrenees or Dolomites they come in handy. And when you’re fat.

  10. How are you feeling?
    ____
    Victoria
    I went to bed feeling lousy at 8pm, woke up at 1am still feeling lousy so I got up for a couple of hours before returning to the cot feeling equally lousy. When I woke up at 6:30 there had been a step change for the better and now I reckon I can pull myself together sufficiently to chair a very, very important board meeting.
    But I WILL be bowling of a short run!

  11. frednk says:
    Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 12:14 pm
    mundo as time goes on you look less and less lie a concern troll and more and more like a Liberal partisan.
    ________________________
    You of course are mind numbingly the same!


  12. Lars Von Trier says:
    T
    uesday, September 8, 2020 at 12:23 pm

    ________________
    You of course are mind numbingly the same!

    Don’t like Mundo’s cover being blown? He sitting in the senators office next to you?

  13. Today’s asshole of the week nominee:

    A Victorian man has been busted after inventing a dying grandfather as an excuse to skip hotel quarantine and enjoy the weekend roaming free in Sydney.

    NSW Police have charged a man after he produced false documentation to leave hotel quarantine on Saturday.

    The 30-year-old Victorian man arrived at Sydney Airport without an exemption last Friday and was taken into hotel quarantine.

    However, the following morning he was released from the hotel after providing what he claimed to be a valid exemption document saying he was in NSW to visit his terminally ill grandfather in hospital.

    Police later determined the documentation he provided was false and further checks revealed the man’s grandfather was not in hospital.

    On Monday, police arrested the man at a home in Penrith, in Sydney’s west.

    He was charged with failing to comply with COVID-19 directions and producing a false or misleading application, and returned to hotel quarantine.

    He is on bail to appear in Penrith Local Court on October 12.

  14. Barney
    “By the way, Sweden’s doing well, isn’t it?

    More deaths, greater economic impact.”

    There’s also the matter of long-term health effects caused by Covid-19. This refutes the misguided meme that the disease has a “99% recovery rate”. There are reports from Sweden that people who have survived Covid-19 have lingering or returning symptoms, and need to take further time off work. Cov-19 is not the flu.

  15. Wish I had compact cranks on my mountain bike yesterday. Pedal hit a rock or root when I was going just under 40km/h. Couldn’t see my bike on the ground, looked up and it was in a tree.

  16. “Makes Mundo wonder what you’re really on about.”

    Kakuru thinks Mundo is tiresome. Kakuru suspects the moniker “Mundo” is a portmanteau of “Mundane” and “Dildo”.

  17. [He is on bail to appear in Penrith Local Court on October 12.]

    Can’t we extradite him to Victoria or is that considered cruel and unusual.

  18. You can see why Morrison and co together with the media are doing their best to throw stones at Victoria.

    Chris Bowen’s Tweets
    Chris Bowen
    @Bowenchris
    ·
    2h
    Actually,
    @stuartrobertmp
    Labor has given more constructive support to the app than your own National Party backbench. We’d just prefer one that works. $70m on an app which has found 14 contacts. And you guys lecture Victoria?

    Chris Bowen
    @Bowenchris
    ·
    4h
    The much vaunted COVID safe app has played basically no role in contact tracing, and yet Scott Morrison still lectures premiers. What if he concentrated on fixing things he is actually responsible for?

  19. And I have a very strong feeling that Morrison hitching his wagon to NSW being the gold standard in this pandemic.
    And in effect punishing Victoria. Is going to bite him in the backside.
    Couldn’t happen to a nicer person.

  20. Flurry of long overdue lines coming from Bracks who has obviously had enough of the amateurism currently on show from team Labor.

    it sometimes sort of looks that way, mundo, or its part of a cunning opposition by proxy strategy. -a.v.

  21. BK says:
    Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 12:49 pm

    Steve777
    Not this particular meeting, I’m afraid.

    Arrr politics. That is a problem with zoom, very hard to control a meeting. It’s ok if you are a bit player, but if you have a goal, very difficult.

  22. guytaur:

    The Democrat Base is bigger. Trump has made the election into a referendum about himself. Democrats are enthusiastic to vote against Trump.

    The voter polling has been stable and not volatile. That favours Biden.
    That’s in the battleground states as Biden wins back white subarban housewives that voted for Obama

    Not forgetting the Sunbelt states favour Biden.

    Wait. I thought you were supposed to be a Bernie Bro who secretly wanted Biden to lose, merely to prove your point that Bernie should have got the nomination, as his radical ‘far left’ policies were clearly the superior ones?

    At least, that’s what a certain gaggle of users here would have us believe…

  23. Alpha Zero says:
    Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 1:01 pm

    “Welshpool Hill should be done in the big dog!”

    I’ve spent too much money on my group set to abuse it with that much crossover for so long.

  24. Despite the COALition’s attempt to hijack it for flogging off their funders surplus gas, green steel is now a reality, at least in Sweden. Those who think foreign importers concerned about climate change will accept Australian steel made with gas, tell ’em they’re dreaming.
    https://reneweconomy.com.au/world-first-fossil-free-steel-manufacturing-plant-completed-in-sweden-36577/

    You have to wonder, if Australian state and Federal governments had more seriously embraced renewable power in the past decade, whether we could now do this not only for green steel manufacture, but also green aluminum smelting at Portland, and other cases we haven’t even thought of yet.

  25. Bucephalus

    “In regional areas the government pays the bill for the rich elderly because most of them have all their assets in trusts.”

    Beneficial interests of beneficiaries of Trusts are included in assessments.”

    And how exactly do you get applicants to even admit all the trusts they have an interest in, or those they have created to hand over their assets to children? We can’t even get LNP MPs to honestly do that. Can we assume their rural constituents are any more honest than their LNP shills?

  26. It’s a stupid question. If you are going to ask that for the virus then why not ask it for suicides, car accidents, cancer and every other cause of death?

    When I die from cancer it won’t have been caused by lack of lockdowns or similar (in fact lockdowns slightly increase the risk). In contrast the removal of lockdowns will with certainty result in deaths from COVID19.

    Mr Abbott thought it proper to spend tens of millions of dollars enquiring into the death of three people in relation to the installation of ceiling insulation; leading one to believe that Conservatives were concerned about government-caused deaths. Are you telling us that’s not the case?

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