Essential Research leadership and COVID polling

The shine continues to come off Scott Morrison’s COVID-boosted personal ratings, plus new evidence of a softening in support for the Coalition among women.

The fortnightly Essential Research poll includes the pollster’s monthly leadership ratings, which gives Scott Morrison his weakest results since the onset of COVID-19 – down six on approval to 51% and up four on disapproval to 40%, with his lead as preferred prime minister narrowing slightly from 48-28 to 46-28. Anthony Albanese is up two on approval to 41% and down one on disapproval to 35%. These numbers have been fed into the BludgerTrack poll aggregate, sharpening Morrison’s established downward trend.

Approval of the federal government’s response to COVID-19 has also deteriorated, with a nine point drop in the good rating since last month to 44% and a six point increase in poor to 30%. Among respondents in New South Wales, the good rating for the federal government has slumped from 62% to 44%, and that for the state government is down from 69% to 57%. A range of other questions are featured on matters relating to COVID-19, including findings that 36% would be willing to get the Pfizer vaccine but not AstraZeneca (5% said vice-versa); that 40% believe the vaccine rollout is being down efficiently, down from 43% a month ago (and 68% earlier in the year); and that 64% believe it is being done safely, down from 67%.

The poll was conducted Wednesday to Sunday from a sample of 1099; full results can be viewed here.

Elsewhere, the Age/Herald yesterday published results aggregated from the three monthly Resolve Strategic polls which compared current voting intention with how respondents recalled having voted in 2019, and found women were more likely to have shifted away from the Coalition (down four points to 37%) than men (down one to 41%). On the subject of Resolve Strategic, Macquarie University academic Murray Goot casts a critical eye over its (and to a lesser extent Essential Research’s) attitudinal polling in Inside Story and takes aim at its refusal to join the Australian Polling Council and adhere to its transparency standards.

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.

3,546 comments on “Essential Research leadership and COVID polling”

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  1. C@tmomma @ #3074 Sunday, July 11th, 2021 – 10:32 am

    Thanks Douglas and Milko, Vic and ‘fess. I try but they just don’t quit. There’s obviously something wrong with them that they keep on doing it.You ignore it, it keeps on happening. You don’t ignore it, it keeps on happening. It just keeps on happening! 🙂

    I’m back after a long absence and its good to hear from many of the regulars, and sad to hear that KayJay has passed on.

    One of the things I’m dissapointed to see has not changed is that you are still allowing yourself to be sucked in by a couple of long term posters whom I will not name. For christssake, hit the block button. You’re having the same circular arguments with them that you were having while I was still a PB regular which was well over a year ago.

  2. Spraysays:
    Sunday, July 11, 2021 at 6:37 pm
    Thanks GG, David, Asha and C@t.

    William, you’re a good man. My long-overdue donation is on its way, but I now take my leave of this blog.
    ________________
    Have decided to head off as well mate.

  3. It was advertising and marketing to the ignorant ( not a slur just factual comment) voters in marginal seats that decided the election.

    I remember becoming increasingly nervous through that campaign as my Facebook feed was just bombarded with anti-Labor stuff that Shorten’s campaign did little to counter. At the time I took comfort in the fact that none of it seemed to be affecting the polls much, but, well… Yeah.

    It was a major oversight on Labor’s part, and one I suspect they won’t be repeating anytime soon. Certainly, I noticed a big difference in last year’s Queensland election, where Labor gave as good as they got in the social media wars.

  4. Wasn’t Grimace the one who wanted LNP seats to burn during the recent bushfires? Yet he finds Lars and I the real bad guys. Odd.

    Great win by the Carringbush.

  5. Taylormade @ #3352 Sunday, July 11th, 2021 – 6:53 pm

    Spraysays:
    Sunday, July 11, 2021 at 6:37 pm
    Thanks GG, David, Asha and C@t.

    William, you’re a good man. My long-overdue donation is on its way, but I now take my leave of this blog.
    ________________
    Have decided to head off as well mate.

    Please reconsider.

    It’s healthy to have a diversity of opinion on this blog.

  6. AL

    I am not on Facebook so I take your word for it.

    I know things went better for Labor in the state election. So yes that may have been the difference.

    Plus Mr Albanese is more confident nowadays. He handled he Mr Speers interview fairly well in my opinion

  7. DS,

    Nah, his contract with Lib HQ has been withdrawn due to lack of impact.

    It seems repeating Lib talking points is not a particularly effective media strategy on PB.

    No doubt he’ll be promoted and another troll from central Lib casting will emerge.

  8. The Carringbush Casanova (aka Recon) said (Sunday, July 11, 2021 at 6:56 pm):

    Great win by the Carringbush.

    Why don’t you adopt my previous suggestion and change your nom to “The Carringbush Casanova”, you know you want to!

  9. Great to see you back on here Grimace, we have missed your presence.
    Hope you have been making good use of your time off-line from here.

  10. Grimace @ #3349 Sunday, July 11th, 2021 – 6:51 pm

    C@tmomma @ #3074 Sunday, July 11th, 2021 – 10:32 am

    Thanks Douglas and Milko, Vic and ‘fess. I try but they just don’t quit. There’s obviously something wrong with them that they keep on doing it.You ignore it, it keeps on happening. You don’t ignore it, it keeps on happening. It just keeps on happening! 🙂

    I’m back after a long absence and its good to hear from many of the regulars, and sad to hear that KayJay has passed on.

    One of the things I’m dissapointed to see has not changed is that you are still allowing yourself to be sucked in by a couple of long term posters whom I will not name. For christssake, hit the block button. You’re having the same circular arguments with them that you were having while I was still a PB regular which was well over a year ago.

    And do you see how the little worm of multiple sock puppet personalities has turned its hungry gaze on you now? And it seems to have a notepad full of incidents it draws out from what passes for a brain that it brings back up again like the proverbial, that it instantly puts out to devalue you again immediately?

    Yet to get banned on this blog you have to go to extremes but not for the blog equivalent of Chinese Water Torture that he and the other one specialise in. Go figure.

    Anyway, please consider providing us with your insights again. The place is so much better when there is more of you and less of them.

  11. Morrison and Berejiklian have totally failed in the management of the covid vaccine rollout and provision of fit for purpose quarantine facilities resulting in the disastrous NSW Lockdowns.
    Voters will not forget or forgive these two incompetents at the next federal and NSW state elections.
    They will both go down in history as complete failures in the management of the covid crisis in the same category as the Captain and deputy captain of the Titanic.

  12. E. G. Theodore @ #3341 Sunday, July 11th, 2021 – 6:45 pm

    William Bowe:

    Spray’s story checks out — his “snuff it out in a hurry” comment was made in reference to Perth. My inclination to assume this to have been an honest mistake by Arthur is complicated by his recent performance in fabricating a quote from Firefox to sustain an argument that had collapsed beneath his feet, much as he’s doing here. And now he’s saying he hopes Spray’s wife dies. Unless he can give me good cause not to, I’m going to ban him.

    Maybe there could be a rule change to require people to cite things properly, this takes longer (probably a good thing) but would include:
    a – ref the person (however, I sometimes elide the person making a comment with which I disagree, so as to avoid making it somewhat personal)
    b – ref the time (I rarely do this, but probably should)
    c – quote the text (I do this, via cut and paste at the time, which doesn’t catch subsequent edits)
    c1 – when quoting test that quotes others’, incorporate the quote structure (I do this, but it is tedious and I frequently stuff it up)
    d – link the original post (I’ve not work out how to do this efficiently without using a plugin)
    One way to make it more efficient would be to get the blog software to add a cut and pastable text to the top of each message, in the form:
    – Posted by XYZ at T, last edited at T1, link: URL
    This is more easy to cite than having to gather the info together. Also it would be good if cut and paste could preserve existing quote structure.

    Then there are hierarchical (tree like) blogs which automatically preserve the reply structure , as a somewhat radical alternative.

    EGT,
    Those suggestions are admirable, except do you know how virtually impossible it is to search this blog!?! I’ve tried on various occasions and unless you know exactly when something was said and on which thread, you will waste countless hours trying to find it again.

    And, as for hierarchical tree blogs, well, what about you don’t know something is relevant to a current discussion at the time it is said so it never gets attached to a tree?

  13. Genuine questions:

    Did the federal govt release ads aimed at Victorians to support the state government’s local messaging?

    Did the federal govt have talks with the Vic govt about financial support for people during its recent lockdown?

    Or did the federal govt just attack the Vic govt over lockdowns?

  14. Every singe aspect of the Covid-19 crisis has been politicised
    The only one to blame is Sott-in-hiding.
    The loss of trust will never be recovered even with the help of a Viagra popping Murdoch.

    Scott & Trump were cast from the same mould

  15. Alpha Zero @ #3367 Sunday, July 11th, 2021 – 5:07 pm

    Great to see you back on here Grimace, we have missed your presence.
    Hope you have been making good use of your time off-line from here.

    Thanks. I took a bit of a break from active politics after the 2019 election, and in about August my business went from a very part-time gig, to all consuming. Went to shit during COVID, and now back to all consuming.

    How are you going?

  16. Grimace at 7:17 pm
    Welcome back to the asylum 🙂 It sounds like covid has given you a ride on the roller coaster.

  17. C@tmomma @ #3368 Sunday, July 11th, 2021 – 5:09 pm

    Grimace @ #3349 Sunday, July 11th, 2021 – 6:51 pm

    C@tmomma @ #3074 Sunday, July 11th, 2021 – 10:32 am

    Thanks Douglas and Milko, Vic and ‘fess. I try but they just don’t quit. There’s obviously something wrong with them that they keep on doing it.You ignore it, it keeps on happening. You don’t ignore it, it keeps on happening. It just keeps on happening! 🙂

    I’m back after a long absence and its good to hear from many of the regulars, and sad to hear that KayJay has passed on.

    One of the things I’m dissapointed to see has not changed is that you are still allowing yourself to be sucked in by a couple of long term posters whom I will not name. For christssake, hit the block button. You’re having the same circular arguments with them that you were having while I was still a PB regular which was well over a year ago.

    And do you see how the little worm of multiple sock puppet personalities has turned its hungry gaze on you now? And it seems to have a notepad full of incidents it draws out from what passes for a brain that it brings back up again like the proverbial, that it instantly puts out to devalue you again immediately?

    Yet to get banned on this blog you have to go to extremes but not for the blog equivalent of Chinese Water Torture that he and the other one specialise in. Go figure.

    Anyway, please consider providing us with your insights again. The place is so much better when there is more of you and less of them.

    I agree with you on the gaze of the sock puppets, yet I’ve managed not to respond. One of the things running my own business has taught me over the last couple of years is to be defensive and guarded when it comes to my energy. There are certain posters here whom I’ve determined add no value to my experience of the blog (some of them long ago), so I do not engage with them no matter what they publish. It’s my energy, and I refuse to give them any. I implore you to take the same approach, including using the block function if necessary.

    I’m currently trying to reestablish some work-life balance in my life now my business is more stable, and I do hope to again become a somewhat regular contributor. My son is now eight, and my daughter three, so a lot of my time and energy now goes into them.

    I’ve been redistributed into Hasluck, so the odious Porter isn’t my problem in the upcoming election and we’ll be getting behind Tania Lawrence and her battle against Ken Wyatt or his replacement.

  18. If there is a NewsPoll tonight, anything within MOE will have Simon Benson trumpeting a triumph for Wally Wallpaper’s steady hand.

  19. malcolm says:
    Sunday, July 11, 2021 at 7:14 pm
    _____________________________________
    So, lets break this down:

    “Morrison and Berejiklian have totally failed in the management of the covid vaccine rollout”

    So AstraZeneca has a rare unheard of blood cot – about 3 in 100,000 which was unknown of at the time it was purchased.

    Seems a bit harsh to characterise the vaccine roll-out as “totally failed”. After all 35% of the population have had one or both shots in 4 months and its projected to hit 80% plus in October. When the AZ blood clot issue came up the Feds purchased more Pfizer and Moderna.

    What exactly is the failure ? Should Morrison have been in the Oxford lab checking the test results?

    “… fit for purpose quarantine facilities”

    So the Commonwealth has said it will fund quarantine facilities that are close to an international airport and close to health care.

    Howard Springs in the NT capacity was doubled and the Government has approved two (2) facilities in Victoria and QLD.

    What are you suggesting ? That they should have built facilities that couldn’t access an international airport / hospitals.

    Presumably double handling people would have added to outbreak risk. All of the Governments made a decision to allow people to return from overseas. Short of banning people from returning – hotel quarantine seemed a sensible option.

    The facts don’t match your hyberbowl.

  20. Grimace,
    ‘Ken Wyatt or his replacement’, huh?

    And if he does go people will say, what did he really achieve for all his prominence in the Morrison government?

  21. This a terrible story but I feel it needs to be shared.

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/baby-mauled-by-family-dog-on-nsw-central-coast-20210711-p588mg.html

    Your loving dog does not like something new in it’s environment.

    Do not trust your dog around small infants.

    I’m in a situation where a four week old baby is brought to a house with a similar type dog from the story.

    When I say do not leave the baby within reach of the dog, the response is …what he wouldn’t hurt a thing…sadly this story proves it.

  22. I predict 52 – 48 to Labor.

    And Benson to declare that a lemon is in fact ambrosia for the Liberal Party.

  23. Ken Wyatt held a lot of promise, but hasn’t really achieved much. That said, he was let down badly by his party and his party’s leader in Turnbull.

  24. I would have done an ad with the intensivist telling the patient they would have to be sedated and intubated.
    That thought even terrifies doctors.

  25. Grimace

    “There are certain posters here whom I’ve determined add no value to my experience of the blog (some of them long ago), so I do not engage with them no matter what they publish. It’s my energy, and I refuse to give them any. I implore you to take the same approach, including using the block function if necessary.”

    Absolutely agree. There are a few posters here who from my point of view do not exist. I engage with those who are sensible and reasonable (and decent). As you said, its about spending time and energy wisely.

    There was one particular poster whose rabid right wing, I’m all right, fuck you, callous indifference and dangerous stupidity really did no good to my faith in humankind. That was a large part of the reason for my long absence last year. What restored my faith (apart from seeing Trump go down in flames) was the realisation that the this country had the sense to reject short sighted, selfish behaviour – at least as far as covid is concerned.

    Welcome back.

  26. Lars
    Covid-19 in Australia
    Active cases *
    NSW 482 QLD 49 WA 10
    VIC 23 NT 10 SA 19
    TAS 0 ACT 0
    Vaccinations
    9.0% fully vaccinated
    17.5% only one dose
    38/38 ranked in OECD

    That’s as off 11 June 2021, that’s a huuuuuge FAIL by any measure.

  27. OC
    State of Origin III is moved to Gold Coast from Newcastle.
    When I asked a couple of days ago why is it not moved to QLD You posted that it was NSW home game.
    So now moved anyway.

  28. C@tmomma says:
    Sunday, July 11, 2021 at 7:32 pm

    Grimace,
    ‘Ken Wyatt or his replacement’, huh?

    And if he does go people will say, what did he really achieve for all his prominence in the Morrison government?
    _____________
    Well let’s see what his proposals are for the Indigenous voice to Parliament look like. Personally I’d like to see some kind of system of self determination similar to what ATSIC was. That doesn’t seem possible, and I’d imagine Wyatt has attempted to get the constitutional recognition sorted too. As the first Indigenous minister for Indigenous Australians in a Coalition with many anachronistic views I imagined he’s tried hard.

    I also think there are some Labor people who think that Indigenous Australians should only support and join the Labor Party. Wasn’t Wyatt described as an Uncle Tom by Labor partisans. We have also seen quite a lot of hostility towards Lidia Thorpe as well.

  29. Sceptic – if you compare us to NZ – its pretty much the same figures – notwithstanding 2 very different governments.

    I understand Labor trying to make hay out of the vaccination rates – but it will be about as effective as the Liberals taking credit for the vaccines.

    Come September / October – most people will have been vaccinated and this will be a moot argument. I appreciate it doesn’t seem that way now but that’s only about 12-16 weeks away.

  30. Been There

    People also don’t realise that the dog ‘who couldn’t possibly ever hurt anyone because it’s so timid’ is in fact the most dangerous.

  31. The only thing Ken Wyatt has done in his years as a Parliamentarian is popularize a kangaroo skin as a harlequin’s garb.

  32. citizen says:
    Sunday, July 11, 2021 at 7:42 pm
    Lura Tingle bombshell – the expedited doses of Pfizer are due to intervention by Kevin Rudd.

    Senior business figures turned to former PM Kevin Rudd to intervene in bringing forward Australia’s Pfizer vaccine supply

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-11/kevin-rudd-australia-covid-pfizer-vaccine-supply-senior-execs/100284902
    _____________________
    But But I read on here – this was a lie and there were no extra doses! Is it ok now to be happy about the extra doses?

  33. BOMBSHELL says Citizen. I say, what an understatement!

    ‘As a result, one very senior Australian businessman — whose identity is known to the ABC but who wishes to remain anonymous — held two meetings with senior Pfizer executives in late June, only to be rebuffed.

    Senior Pfizer executives told the businessman that if Australia was to make a more serious effort, after its treatment at the hands of relatively junior bureaucrats, it would have to come from much higher up, expressing their astonishment that Prime Minister Scott Morrison had not directly spoken to the Pfizer chairman and chief executive Albert Bourla, as former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had done on multiple occasions.

    The executives suggested that, in the absence of Mr Morrison, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd — who was known to them because of his work in the United States as head of the New York-based Asia Society — may have some influence.

    The network of businessmen contacted Mr Rudd and set up an introduction to Dr Bourla. A Zoom meeting was arranged on June 30. Mr Rudd sent a text a message to Mr Morrison to tell him he was going to make the call, making clear he would be representing himself as a concerned Australian and not in any way as an emissary from the government.

    In a letter to the PM, obtained by the ABC, Mr Rudd subsequently reported to Mr Morrison on June 30 that, on the call, he had congratulated Dr Bourla on Pfizer’s success in producing the world-class vaccine and discussed various challenges and political pressures it faced around the world regarding distribution and intellectual property waivers.

    “I also used the call as an opportunity to ask Dr Bourla whether there was any possible way, given Pfizer’s current international contractual obligations, to advance the dispatch of significant quantities of the Pfizer vaccine to Australia as early as possible in the third quarter this year,” Mr Rudd told Mr Morrison in the letter.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-11/the-australian-next-generation-covid19-vaccines/100271062

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