From Essential via The Guardian:
The new weekly survey has Labor maintaining its election winning lead over the Coalition, with the ALP on 53% of the two-party preferred measure and the Coalition on 47%.
The two-party preferred result is the same as last week and it is in line with all other major public opinion polls, except the YouGov survey, which last week had the Coalition in front.
The Greens are up one point to 10%, the Nick Xenophon Team is steady on 3% and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is also steady on 8%.
In addition to this week’s citizenship questions, voters were asked questions about the fairness of the tax system, about Hanson’s decision to wear a burqa into the Senate during the last parliamentary sitting week and they were also asked to rate the best governments over the past 10 years.
On the best government question, voters put Kevin Rudd at the top of the list and Tony Abbott at the bottom. The Turnbull government ranked ahead of Julia Gillard’s government.
In the ratings question, 32% said Rudd’s government was the best, 26% selected Turnbull, 22% selected Gillard and 20% Abbott – with 37% of the sample saying Abbott’s government was the worst government of the decade.
Opinions lined up with partisan preferences, with 90% of Labor voters selecting either Rudd or Gillard and 86% of Coalition voters selecting either Turnbull of Abbott.
The Greens liked Labor governments but voters supporting politicians other than the major parties split in both directions – 34% preferred Abbott’s Coalition government and 30% selected Rudd’s Labor government.
Voters were asked whether the tax system was fair or unfair, with 51% saying it was unfair and 40% saying fair. This result shows a small shift in favour of thinking the tax system is fair since the question was asked last April.
Can’t say I agree. The Gillard Government was certainly troubled by minority politics but it did a great job under the circumstances, passing excellent policy in the carbon price, NDIS and Gonski reforms (later passed by Turnbull). It also embarked in the second largest fiscal retrenchment since WWII.
The Abbott Government was deluded and the man himself an embarrassment. It’s policy was class driven and kicking the car industry into the sea was a shocker. But it did at least have some vague set of values and a plan to govern. Even if you didn’t like it, it was an honest liar.
By contrast. the Turnbull Government is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. A corrupt cop. A dishonest liar. It has no discernible values, pretending to centrist politics while allowing Abbott’s allies to run riot. It has passed only conceived bad policy (such as the brain fart corporate tax cut), has lurched from crisis to crisis, birther and stoked the return of One Nation and, generally, delivered a material decline in living standards despite the mining bust pausing through much of its tenure. Sure, the man is charming but he’s inept.
No government has grasped the extent of the post-mining boom adjustment so all have failed. Within that, I find that the Turnbull Government is the worst, Abbott second worst and Gillard the best of a bad lot.
