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”

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  1. @DougCameron51 tweets

    Another Liberal cabinet minister lines up this morning to run the lies that we’ll be overrun by refugees if the govt behaves like compassionate human beings.
    Doesn’t @Anne_Ruston @SenatorCash and @KarenAndrews know how cruel, pathetic and dumb this disgusting spin line is?

  2. shellbell says:
    Friday, June 11, 2021 at 11:36 am

    Was there a question about how much the Lawyers/Funders were allowed to take?

  3. citizen @ #570 Friday, June 11th, 2021 – 11:11 am

    Sound grab of Morrison on commercial radio this morning. Announcing a travel bubble between Singapore and Australia ‘when enough people are vaccinated’.

    So it won’t be happening this year then.

    Always with the qualifier. Always needs an announcement a day, otherwise the Opposition might get a word in edgeways.

  4. Doesn’t @Anne_Ruston @SenatorCash and @KarenAndrews know how cruel, pathetic and dumb this disgusting spin line is?

    ______________________________

    Also fits in with my hypothesis that the Liberals wheel out women to say really nasty things to make them seem less nasty. A woman’s place in the Liberal party is in front of the men when shit is flying.

  5. Bucephalus

    Yes. Always is in class and representative actions.

    Not uncommonly other lawyers are engaged on behalf of injured persons to dispute the original lawyers’ claims costs.

  6. poroti @ #574 Friday, June 11th, 2021 – 11:25 am

    Scrott getting a little gun shy when it it comes to targets and commitments ? All those exhortations to get out from under the doona and for States to open up but when it gets the pointy end it is ‘Brave Sir Robin’ staying under his doona.

    Scott Morrison says there is no magic number of vaccinations that will trigger Australia opening its international borders.The Prime Minister is refusing to set a target date…………

    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/coronavirus/2021/06/10/vaccination-australia-border-morrison/

    Scott Morrison, always there for the party, never there to clean up the mess afterwards.

  7. Global Cartoon Wrap:

    From the UK:









    Canada:



    India:
    Cartoonist MANJUL has received law enforcement notice from Twitter for violation of Indian laws. Though there has been an outpouring of support for him, he says that being a law abiding citizen, he feels insulted on getting the notice
    https://youtu.be/5x9UaV5fCVk?t=129






    South Africa:

    New Zealand:



    Netherlands:





    Switzerland:

    France:



    Belgium:

    Cagel Post:



















    XKCD:

  8. Within a few hours PM Flimflam says..

    Announcing a travel bubble between Singapore and Australia ‘when enough people are vaccinated’.

    and

    Scott Morrison says there is no magic number of vaccinations that will trigger Australia opening its international borders

  9. The federal government’s “robo-debt” scheme has been lashed as a “shameful chapter” in Australia’s treatment of its poorest people by a Federal Court judge who on Friday approved a settlement worth $1.7 billion for people affected by the faulty system.

    Justice Bernard Michael Murphy said ministers and senior public servants should have known the welfare debt recovery scheme was unlawful.
    Robo-debt relied on a flawed method of calculating debts to assert people owed money from welfare overpayments.
    “The proceeding has exposed a shameful chapter in the administration of the Commonwealth social security system and a massive failure in public administration,” Justice Murphy said.
    Justice Murphy approved the settlement negotiated between law firm Gordon Legal, representing hundreds of thousands of people caught up in the scheme, and the government despite objections from almost 700 members of the class action. Those people will be able to opt out and bring their own individual claims if they want to.
    Those objections, Justice Murphy said, were often heartbreaking.
    “One thing, however, that stands out from the objections is the financial hardship, anxiety and distress, including suicidal ideation, and in some cases suicide, that people … say was suffered as a result of the robo-debt system,” he said.

    Others felt ashamed and hurt by being wrongly branded welfare cheats. “One could not help but be touched by them,” Justice Murphy said.

  10. ‘poroti says:
    Friday, June 11, 2021 at 12:04 pm

    Within a few hours PM Flimflam says..

    Announcing a travel bubble between Singapore and Australia ‘when enough people are vaccinated’.

    and

    Scott Morrison says there is no magic number of vaccinations that will trigger Australia opening its international borders’
    _______________________________
    You left out the one where he is/is not going to open the borders.

  11. lefty_e says:
    Friday, June 11, 2021 at 9:23 am

    Gee, the privatized Ausnet electricity network in VIC is hardly covering itself in glory.
    Up to 5 days to restore power to some areas.
    This what happens when you privatize: they’re good at collecting rents, useless at anything else. Obviously nowhere near enough maintenance staff for the job.

    Renationalise the useless pricks, and do it yesterday.
    —————–
    Don’t know if you are in Victoria or not but thousands of trees have fallen over powerlines so it has nothing to do with maintenance.

  12. U.S. COVID update:

    – New cases: 14,479 …………………….. – New deaths: 481

    – In hospital: 18,972 (-471)
    – In ICU: 4,871 (-154)

    614,007 total deaths now

  13. Beemer

    It has everything to do with maintenance.
    Underground power lines in the same trench as the NBN would continue the service. Save on maintence workers being called out for emergencies.

    It’s a case of cents before dollars because the privatised company knows it can get away with being cheap and still make profit.

    A case study in why privatisation is just bad. No wholistic thinking that a government does.

  14. Mexicanbeemer

    Don’t know if you are in Victoria or not but thousands of trees have fallen over powerlines so it has nothing to do with maintenance.

    It could involve a lack of maintenance. Ensuring trees etc are not ‘encroaching’ , overhanging or otherwise ‘threatening’ lines would all be part of maintenance. As to if that had a role in Vic.’s Big Blow Blackout we will have to wait for the bun fight afterwards.

  15. People complained here in WA after the fires and cyclone about it taking weeks (months in some cases) to restore power – by the Government owned Western Power and now the Western Power workers are going on strike. Bloody privatisation – apparently.

    Fortunately there are plenty of solar, sorry Diesel Generators, that can be used temporarily.

  16. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/chinas-guangdong-steps-up-covid-19-testing-as-infections-mount

    BEIJING (REUTERS) – China’s southern Guangdong province, spooked by a rise in Covid-19 infections since May, stepped up mass testing this week in a handful of cities, including those that have yet to report a single case.

    While the numbers of confirmed infections and asymptomatic cases remain small compared with massive outbreaks seen in other countries such as India and Brazil, China is taking no chances.

    Guangdong, China’s manufacturing hub and biggest province by economic output, has reported more than 110 confirmed cases since May 21.

    Its provincial capital Guangzhou has accounted for almost 90 per cent of the confirmed cases, spurring the city of over 18 million people to ramp up mass testing.

    Since starting the mass testing on May 26, Guangzhou has taken nearly 28 million nucleic acid samples, with 40 people showing positive for the coronavirus, a spokesman for the city’s health authority told reporters on Tuesday (June 8).

    Many people have been tested multiple times.

    —————–

    Western countries – where are you?

  17. “Don’t know if you are in Victoria or not but thousands of trees have fallen over powerlines so it has nothing to do with maintenance.”

    It’s renewable electrons leaking across the interconnector from SA wot done it.

  18. poroti @ #386 Friday, June 11th, 2021 – 12:33 pm

    Mexicanbeemer

    Don’t know if you are in Victoria or not but thousands of trees have fallen over powerlines so it has nothing to do with maintenance.

    It could involve a lack of maintenance. Ensuring trees etc are not ‘encroaching’ , overhanging or otherwise ‘threatening’ lines would all be part of maintenance. As to if that had a role in Vic.’s Big Blow Blackout we will have to wait for the bun fight afterwards.

    IIRC the Distribution company covering much of the affected area is the same one that had to settle a major court case after the Black Saturday fires. The people living in the ranges probably did not want their trees lopped etc though. Undergrounding would have been very sensible.

  19. Steve777 says:
    Friday, June 11, 2021 at 12:39 pm

    You will note that the whole state didn’t go black because the renewables and reliance on interconnectors were tripping out. No?

  20. laughtong
    People in those areas like their trees untouched. Its ridiculous that those areas don’t have their powerlines underground.

    It was that windy and with the number of falling trees they were lucky it wasn’t a hot January day because the area hasn’t had a major fire for sometime.

  21. poroti says:
    Friday, June 11, 2021 at 12:42 pm

    Exactly. Fleet Base West is not in NW WA – not even close.

    The USN has occasionally done crew changes here. Very good for the economy and security to get some ships home porting here.

    I’d like to see a dry dock built here that is big enough to take US Aircraft Carriers.

  22. poroti mate….

    Don’t waste your time with Colonel Blimp.
    He always caveats with “show me your evidence” ignores the proffered evidence, moves on, cherry picks something else and moves on…….

  23. BB

    Variety being the spice of life, we occasionally get “Trumpist”, “Coalist”, “Misogynist”, “Rapist”, “Pedarist” and “Bullshit Artist” added to the basic charge.

    BB is a prime example of a labelist.

  24. laughtongsays:
    Friday, June 11, 2021 at 12:40 pm

    “Undergrounding would have been very sensible.”

    So you want to bury all of the existing power lines. Get a quote.

    I like power cables being underground in urban areas but for long distance transmission above ground lines are vastly cheaper.

  25. The blurb (or whatever its called) from the smh robodebt article is sloppy:

    A Federal Court justice says the federal government should have known its robo-debt calculations were unlawful.

    No, pursuing a debt on the sole basis of income averaging is unlawful. Requiring the alleged debtor to disprove a claim that the government had no evidence for is unlawful. Doing an income averaging calculation is not unlawful. The government needed to provide adequate evidence.

  26. Buce

    This is a lie in areas prone to bushfires.
    Publicly owned companies can do underground cabling to avoid the emergency response costs. In the case of bushfires in fact even helping to prevent disaster and loss of life.

  27. Bucephalus @ #399 Friday, June 11th, 2021 – 12:53 pm

    laughtongsays:
    Friday, June 11, 2021 at 12:40 pm

    “Undergrounding would have been very sensible.”

    So you want to bury all of the existing power lines. Get a quote.

    I like power cables being underground in urban areas but for long distance transmission above ground lines are vastly cheaper.

    Having lived in an urban area with underground power I agree. I guess it would be extremely expensive to retrospectively underground long distances.
    However there are many safety aspects to it as well as the aesthetic, including reducing bushfire risk.

    Also there is the wildlife that the trees support. One lady on the radio yesterday was saying all the trees on her property had gone over, bar one. Sitting in that lone tree was a poor little koala.

  28. 😆 “legally insufficient” nice try from Arseholes Inc. Hang draw and quarter them as they were told of the ‘deficiencies’ very early on and still they went ahead.
    .
    Luke Henriques-Gomes
    (@lukehgomes)
    A small thing, but an important one. Government ministers and top public servants have continued to assert robodebt was merely “legally insufficient”, rather than “unlawful”. But the federal court begs to differ. https://t.co/O4kAgH50Qi

    June 11, 2021

  29. I am very opposed to the privatisation of all utilities, health and education. It should never be done, should never have been done and should be undone, as difficult as that may be.
    However I don’t think it would have helped in this weather event. As to underground supply lines…well there are some downsides. In new suburbs – absolutely – no question. When replacing damaged or old systems – sometimes. The real issue as I understand it, is that many more trees need to be first removed before the underground wiring can be installed compared to overhead.
    On the other hand, do it once do it properly. Maybe replace it once do it properly.
    Either way if it is in public hands a single decision can be made on advice that is not concerned with profit but with best practice.

  30. Also as the irreversible effects if our actions on climate change increase natural disaster the costs of putting cables underground and preventing first responders having to be called out is a huge cost saving for communities.

  31. Tricot
    “He always caveats with “show me your evidence” ignores the proffered evidence, moves on, cherry picks something else and moves on…….”

    I once entertained the notion that this individual had a scintilla of reason, and was possibly worth engaging with. It took me a long time (far longer than it should have) to realise that he’s merely a troll and oxygen thief.

  32. The Coalition had no evidence for the debts it was pursuing. In fact, even in those cases where there might have been adequate evidence to prove a debt, it was not put together, because the Coalition’s scheme stopped at income averaging. The onus was on the alleged debtor to disprove it. So even those cases where they could have lawfully pursued a debt, they still did so unlawfully.

    It should be obvious that you can’t claim stuff without evidence.

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