Nine is freaking out:
Voters have marked down Labor sharply over its handling of climate policy and the cost of living, just days after Peter Dutton reignited the climate wars by claiming the government’s renewable energy target was unachievable and would increase financial hardship.
The latest The Australian Financial Review/Freshwater Strategy Poll shows Anthony Albanese has lost significant ground to Mr Dutton, to be just 2 percentage points ahead as preferred prime minister and, for the first time, has a lower approval rating than the opposition leader.
While the parties remain tied at 50 per cent apiece on a two party-preferred basis, and their primary votes haven’t shifted, Labor’s lead over the Coalition as the party best able to handle climate change has plunged by 8 points since the last poll a month ago.
And another from Resolve, also at Nine:
When voters were given a list of more than a dozen policies ranging from education to national security and asked to name the most important, 54 per cent said it was keeping the cost of living low. Seven per cent named the environment and climate change, while another 7 per cent named healthcare.
…When voters were asked who was best to manage the environment and climate, 24 per cent named Labor and Albanese, while 22 per cent named the Coalition and Dutton. Labor’s lead has shrunk to 2 percentage points, from 15 points last October.
Thirty-eight per cent said Dutton and the Coalition would be better at managing immigration and refugees, and 21 per cent named Albanese and Labor. The government had a small lead on this question as recently as October.
On jobs and wages, the major parties are now evenly matched, at 32 per cent, a significant change from October when Labor had a lead of 17 points in net terms.
“Some of the comments we collect are becoming quite angry. We’re also beginning to see a more specific focus on the cost of housing and rents, as well as growing unease with job security.”
How predictable.
When you have a PM and Treasurer dedicated to crashing living standards by…
- doing inflationary favours for corporations over the people;
- pulling down the border to the world’s most populous and impoverished nation;
- grovelling to China over the national interest, and
- allowing an energy catastrophe…
what do you think is going to happen?
My view is that if the Coalition had a half-attractive leadership team, Albo the Destroyer would have doomed Labor to the next four election defeats.
Even with Dutton as the alternative, Albo’s got to go, and it looks increasingly like he will.
