Confidence in Malcolm Turnbull as the best leader to manage the economy has dropped below 50 per cent for the first time since he became Prime Minister, as Labor chalks up its fifth consecutive Newspoll lead over the Coalition.
The latest Newspoll, taken exclusively for The Australian, shows the opposition holding its lead of 53 per cent to the government’s 47 per cent in two-party terms.
The survey of 1738 people also reveals the Coalition’s primary vote has slipped back to 38 per cent despite a bounce in Mr Turnbull’s performance providing the first rise in his standing with voters in 10 weeks.
Decent bounce for Do-nothing Malcolm leadership. My best guess is it a relief rally that he is not Donald Trump. No doubting the Labor lead, though, and that big slide in the Coalition primary vote is a bleeding base.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific's leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
