Essential Research: leadership ratings and COVID management

Downward trends continue for federal leaders’ ratings and perceptions of COVID-19 management at both federal and state level.

The latest fortnightly Essential Research poll includes the pollster’s monthly leadership ratings, which finds Scott Morrison’s approval down one to 57% and disapproval up four to 36%, while Anthony Albanese is respectively steady on 39% and up one to 36%. Morrison’s lead as preferred prime minister is at 48-28, narrowing from 50-24 last time. The pollster’s regular question on the handling of COVID-19 gives the federal government its weakest result since the beginnings of the series in March last year, with its good rating down five to 53% and its poor rating up six to 24%.

The trends for the leadership ratings are COVID-19 questions are worth noting: the former can be found at BludgerTrack, which no longer registers a recovery for Morrison after his slump in May, but also now records Anthony Albanese in net negative territory for the first time; the latter is shown in the chart of the Essential Research series below.

However, it’s not just the federal government that Essential Research finds to be down from its earlier peaks on COVID-19 management: the Victorian government’s good rating is down 15% amid the state’s latest lockdown to 48% (the federal government is also down 15% in the state, to 42%), and recent results for the other state governments are all down around six points from where they were at the start of the year, ranging from 65% for Queensland to 75% for Western Australia.

The poll also finds 40% view the federal government less favourably than they did a year ago, compared with 25% for more favourably and 35% for the same; 43% of the view that the vaccine rollout is being conducted efficiently (unchanged since April), 67% that is is being done safely (up four) and 54% that it will be effective at stopping the virus (up two); and 55% agreeing the Victorian government is raising valid concerns about the federal government’s vaccine rollout performance compared with 45% for the alternative option that it is seeking to shift the blame.

The poll was conducted Wednesday to Sunday from a sample of 1104. This being Essential’s first result since the launch of the Australian Polling Council code of conduct, it comes with a separate disclosure statement containing detail of the poll’s response options for voting intention, from which we learn that state and Senate voting intention questions were included even if we may never see the results, and that the poll is weighted for age, gender, location and party identification (a somewhat contentious practice in the latter case).

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.

1,336 comments on “Essential Research: leadership ratings and COVID management”

Comments Page 2 of 27
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  1. It’s appropriate that Albo isn’t bulk billed but most people don’t pay because they are bulk billed. Almost 90% of GP appointments are free.

    ___________________________________

    Source please?

  2. Morrison always “digs in”, once he has received the Word in his prayers, and thinks he knows all the answers. Compromise is not in his nature.

    Scott Morrison is resisting international pressure to lock in more ambitious climate commitments, declaring Australia opposes setting targets for certain parts of the economy or “false deadlines for phasing out specific energy sources”.

    Before he sets off for the G7 summit in the UK later this week, the prime minister will use a foreign policy speech to say that “ambition alone won’t solve the problem of actually reducing emissions”.

    Morrison is also expected to characterise carbon border tariffs – an idea that is gathering momentum in international discussions as a way to avoid heavy-emitting industries shifting to countries with less ambitious climate commitments – as a “combative” protectionist measure.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/08/scott-morrison-digs-in-against-deeper-cuts-to-emissions-ahead-of-g7-summit

  3. “guytaursays:
    Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 9:20 am
    @kevinbonhan tweeted 9 hours ago
    Scott Morrison has now lost 21 #Newspoll netsat points in the last 3.5 months.

    John Howard lost this many or more as fast or faster in:

    1996
    1997
    1998
    1999/2000
    2000
    2001
    2002
    2002/3
    2005


    So John Howard has lost as many or more from 1996 to 2005 netsat points ( whatever that means) except in 2004 when Latham was Labor leader. Bot still did not loose elections during that period.

  4. That’s such a stupid tweet. Without Wall Street where would the funding have come from? Thin air?

    I think Biden was implying America wasn’t built by paper shufflers & skimmers.

  5. Nathan Buckley is poised to step down as coach of Collingwood, midway through his 10th season at the helm of the Magpies.

    Buckley was expected to tell the football department and players of his decision on Wednesday morning, ending months of speculation about his position.

    Sources said it was most likely Buckley would finish up after coaching the club against Melbourne on Queen’s Birthday but The Age has not confirmed whether that will be his last game.

    It is not yet certain who would take over at that point out of his assistants Brenton Sanderson, Robert Harvey, Hayden Skipworth and Damian Carroll.

    Collingwood had long said they would leave the decision on Buckly’s future until the end of rhe season

  6. @JohnRHewson tweets

    More front than a rat with a gold tooth- PM planning, as just an “observer”, to lecture G7 on need to address failures of global institutions – which most would agree- while ducking climate responsibilities commitments and meaningful action

  7. Bucephalus @9.36am
    “That’s such a stupid tweet. Without Wall Street where would the funding have come from? Thin air?”
    If that was a stupid tweet, your tweet will give it a close race.
    Get real!

  8. From the crikey article guytaur linked:

    “ Defamation is not about what is said, but what the audience hears. That is contextual; it includes the words in their literal meanings, but also how they are commonly understood. And it includes the other words, the ones hiding between the lines.”

    On that basis, the PM should the Government Solicitor ready to roll with a defamation case if the ABC runs its story trying to link him to Qanon.

  9. Sceptic says:
    Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 9:56 am

    So every single banker and broker is a corrupt criminal spiv?

    Where would the equity and debt required to run businesses that give the jobs to the workers come from? Where? Who?

    It’s as hypocritical as the Greenies opposing mining while relying on it for their very survival.

  10. Bruce Haigh
    @bruce_haigh
    ·
    21m
    #auspol The loss of trade and the diplomatic relationship with China is the biggest diplomatic disaster to beset Australia in 70 years and it was presided over by Morrison and Marise Payne.

  11. Scrooter’s lost one point on approval.
    It’s really starting to bite now!
    He’s toast!.
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    Toast I tells ya!&^&^%#$!!e49865745!!!!!!

  12. Ah, scenes from the NSW LA
    1. Someone called the Honourable Joseph Tripodi
    2. Andrew Fraser slurring his speech during the after dinner session and trying to strangle Tripodi
    3. The Sergeant at Arms wearing a swallow tail coat

    Does it get any better?

    Shellbell
    Any knowledge on when or if the forged cabinet minute case will come before the courts?

  13. “Has Daniel Andrews been interviewed either informally or formally by the police in relation to anything that occurred over that long weekend?”

    The implication being that something happened which would lead the Police to want to interview Daniel Andrews. Why would they want to interview him if they didn’t think something criminal may have occurred?? 🙁

    From what i know of it it was the Ambulance people who were the first responders and they have published their story. If the Police attended at all, ( i dont know if they did) maybe it was on the basis that all they had heard was that the Premier was injured and were simply checking it out as having a security interest for a prominent politician?

    Libs certainly trying to muddy the waters and create a story that’s damaging to Andrews. Hope he sues them and gets the most abject of public apologies from all concerned.

  14. “Has Scott Morrison been interviewed either informally or formally by the police in relation to anything that occurred at the Engadine Maccas over that weekend?”

  15. Bucephalus
    They are linking him to a local ‘luminary’ of the Qanon loons , as you damn well know. There are damned legitimate questions to be asked when the leader of your country is a maaaate of someone associated with extremists. I could just imagine your pearl clutching and the knotty knickers you’d have if one of Albo’s family friends was a local leading light in pushing Illuminati conspiracy stories or the “Protocols of Zion”.

  16. From the previous thread:

    caf @ #1120 Wednesday, June 9th, 2021 – 12:17 am

    And also, that cryptocurrencies are a shitty choice for demanding ransoms because in general a cryptocurrency will create a public record of every transaction, and that record lives forever. It’s only a matter of time before the authorities learn how to follow it back to somewhere identifiable when the recipient tries to turn it into tangible goods or fiat currency.

    Case in point: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-seizes-23-million-cryptocurrency-paid-ransomware-extortionists-darkside

    Yep, all it took was for the FBI to find the Locked Box for DarkSide in the blockchain and then work out the password (which any supercomputer could do I’d imagine).

  17. Clare Blumer
    @clareblumer
    · 4h
    A new source for the slaughter at Sara Aw tells @markwillacy that after an SAS patrol commander accidentally killed a group of farmers, “they made the decision that they couldn’t leave anyone behind to tell.” Afghan witnesses say 11 civilians died
    https://ab.co/2Tet77V @abcnews

  18. poroti @ #75 Wednesday, June 9th, 2021 – 10:26 am

    Bucephalus
    They are linking him to a local ‘luminary’ of the Qanon loons , as you damn well know. There are damned legitimate questions to be asked when the leader of your country is a maaaate of someone associated with extremists. I could just imagine your pearl clutching and the knotty knickers you’d have if one of Albo’s family friends was a local leading light in pushing Illuminati conspiracy stories or the “Protocols of Zion”.

    Or, more apt in relation to Labor, if Albanese was found to have as a very close friend, someone who was both a CFMEU union boss and an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang boss, you could guarantee that Bucephallus would go off like a frog in a sock. Even if Albanese had no knowledge of what they guy did, if he did anything nefarious at all. Just the mere association would be enough.

  19. Bucephalus: the high percentage of GP presentations that are are bulk billed is a completely misleading statistic. This is because the vast percentage of patients that are seen by GPs are older (mostly) and/or have chronic conditions, with many holding concession cards. Further, these patients tend to be seen multiple times a year, instead of once or less. Most patients who do not hold concession cards, are not bulk-billed but are instead faced with higher and higher gap payments.

    https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/570c83c4-bfb4-48b5-807d-935a1db34a1e/aihw-mhc-nhpa-11-frequent-gp-attenders-and-use-of-health-services-2012-13-report-March-2015.pdf.aspx?inline=true

    https://www.racgp.org.au/download/Documents/Publications/Health-of-the-Nation-2018-Report.pdf

  20. imacca,
    I bet the scumbucket Victorian Liberals would say, ‘I’m just asking questions’, which seems to be what they have constructed as their go to line to excuse themselves for their scummiest behaviour these days.

  21. C@tmomma
    With decent standard encryption even ‘super duper’ computers would take a literal age. I suspect it is somehow tied up with us being about the only ones with legislation requiring secret back doors or some other part of the legislation we were a guinea pig for. At the time several article noted that countries like the US and UK were watching with interest . Interest as our sort of legislation apparently had no show of passing there. This case might be set up to change that.

  22. Cat

    It’s interesting that the supporter of the government, that’s keen to use defamation law, objects when Labor might use it.

  23. a r @ #69 Wednesday, June 9th, 2021 – 10:12 am

    Bucephalus @ #66 Wednesday, June 9th, 2021 – 10:02 am

    On that basis, the PM should the Government Solicitor ready to roll with a defamation case if the ABC runs its story trying to link him to Qanon.

    That you’d take that position without even bothering to consider what evidence the ABC has says much.

    Especially as Margaret Simons, who has seen it said that it was ‘interesting rather than revelatory’. So it seems if Morrison followed Bucephallus’ urgings it would be much ado about nothing and end in another humiliating backdown a la Christian Porter.

  24. With all these calls for everyone to sue everyone else for defamation over Dan Andrews and ScoMo’s QAnon Mates, does this mean the Rule of Law is back in fashion around these parts?

    Didn’t take long.

  25. U.S. COVID update:

    – New cases: 14,528 ……………………. – New deaths: 372

    – In hospital: 19,387 (-387)
    – In ICU: 4,993 (-339)

    613,034 total deaths now

  26. poroti @ #80 Wednesday, June 9th, 2021 – 10:39 am

    C@tmomma
    With decent standard encryption even ‘super duper’ computers would take a literal age. I suspect it is somehow tied up with us being about the only ones with legislation requiring secret back doors or some other part of the legislation we were a guinea pig for. At the time several article noted that countries like the US and UK were watching with interest . Interest as our sort of legislation apparently had no show of passing there. This case might be set up to change that.

    Thanks, poroti. It does seem as though there’s a lot of international co-ordination and co-operation going on with law enforcement these days.

    I wonder whose idea it was to create an encryption app that they let run for 3 years to scoop up some big fish in the underworld? I don’t think it would have been Australia, our app creation is pretty useless at a federal government level. 😆

  27. Ven @ 8.39

    Like lots of others, I put my hand up and admit I got it totally wrong concerning Latham and his ingratitude to the Labor party. The party nurtured him, placed palm fronds on his path to greatness and shouted ‘hosanna’ as he led us all down the garden path. What a bully and an utter waste of space and precious oxygen he proved to be. Like both Staleys, Latham is ‘twisted in mind’.
    Mea Culpa.

  28. Of course I wouldn’t expect the government to take this into consideration, but after the trauma that the family has already endured, allowing them to live in a community that welcomes and supports them would assist them in overcoming their PTSD.

    It is hard enough to adapt to a new country, as any migrant will understand. So many decisions by Dutton and his mob lead to mental stress and sometimes rebellion against the state, and this is another.

  29. Lizzie

    It’s a wonderful recruiting tool for terrorists.

    Indonesia is not that far away that we can be complacent about how our treatment of asylum seekers is being used to recruit.

  30. 9lizziesays:
    Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 10:44 am

    Guardian Australia
    @GuardianAus
    ·
    1m
    Biloela family not approached about resettlement in US or New Zealand, lawyer says

    Why would the Government be looking to resettle them in a 3rd country if they don’t have refugee status?

    If there are humanitarian grounds for not returning them to Sri Lanka then they should be settled here.

    That’s why Ministerial Discretion exists.

  31. Barney

    “Ministerial discretion” only seems to apply to au-pairs and friends of the powerful.
    Of course, I could be mistaken. There may be hundreds of grateful refugees settling into new homes at this very minute.

  32. a r says:
    Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 10:12 am

    The PM has denied it in public. Unless the ABC has actual proof that the PM believes in the Qanon crap and actually engages with it – which is a lot different to knowing someone who believes in it – then exactly what is their story apart from a smear campaign?

  33. guytaursays:
    Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 10:57 am

    Lizzie

    It’s a wonderful recruiting tool for terrorists.

    Indonesia is not that far away that we can be complacent about how our treatment of asylum seekers is being used to recruit.

    ?????

  34. So every single banker and broker is a corrupt criminal spiv?

    That is not what was said and you know it.

    When your only motive is profit and your only regulation is corporate social responsibility – then yes, you end up with spivs and a system that serves the spivs well but no longer serves the people. I dont care if they dont care about people. The invisible hand is fine. So long as the system serves the purpose.

    The problem with letting self interest rule the roost is that eventually it corrupts not only the spivs but the system. The market becomes dysfunctional. And it fails everyone.

    BK posted an interesting article about asset management. Every large corporation thinks competition is for mugs. I, personally, have heard it said so many times. They spend huge resources avoiding it. And Smith knew it – terming it ‘mean rapacity’ – where self interest begets a spirit of monopolisation. But hey, lets just step back and leave them to it?

    A laissez faire small government system allows big corporations to fill the power vacuum with unbridled short term self interest. If anyone thinks that will magically transform the world into a better place, I know exactly where their invisible hand is.

  35. You think that’s a smear campaign? This is a smear campaign.

    Paul Bongiorno
    @PaulBongiorno
    ·
    Jun 8
    Replying to @msmarto
    The government believes this family are deceivers and malingerers…clearly Home Affairs plans on breaking the family’s resolve no matter what it takes. That certainly was the briefing given to Government backbenchers when Peter Dutton was minister.

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