Advertisement

Coalition poll numbers continue to fall

Support for the Coalition continues to tumble but Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he hasn’t got time to focus on polls going down.

Nov 12, 2018, updated Nov 12, 2018
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he's not focussed on the Coalition's falling poll numbers. Photo: AAP/Joel Carrett

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he's not focussed on the Coalition's falling poll numbers. Photo: AAP/Joel Carrett

The Coalition’s primary vote has dropped to 36 per cent, and it trails Labor 46 to 54 on the two-party preferred vote, the latest Newspoll published in The Australian shows.

But Morrison says the poor result isn’t distracting him.

“I haven’t got the time frankly to focus on things going up and down,” he told reporters in Victoria today.

“I remember some years ago when I trekked Kokoda. You’d get to the peak and you think you’re at the top, and you knew you had to dip down a bit before going up again.

“You just put your head down and you just keep going, because you know where you’re trying to get to.”

Morrison still leads Opposition Leader Bill Shorten as preferred prime minister 43 per cent to 35, but his lead has been whittled down to eight points.

His personal approval rating has fallen into negative territory, with 44 per cent of voters dissatisfied and 41 per cent satisfied with his performance.

Malcolm Turnbull had the Coalition at a two-party preferred vote of 49-51 before he was toppled as prime minister.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who led the push against Turnbull, remains positive despite the bad poll result.

“I think we can turn the polls around because people don’t want our economy destroyed by Labor,” Dutton told reporters.

Opposition frontbencher Michelle Rowland dismissed suggestions the next federal election was Labor’s to lose, saying it would be very close.

“A lot of people have given advice that the best thing Labor could do would be to be a small target and Bill Shorten expressly rejected that from that outset,” Rowland told Sky News.

“We’re focused on being a party of a big vision rather than a small target.”

The Greens’ primary vote has dropped to nine per cent, losing two points, while One Nation is still on six per cent.

– AAP

Local News Matters
Advertisement
Copyright © 2024 InDaily.
All rights reserved.