Honeymoon continues for Turnbull government: poll
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The honeymoon continues for the Turnbull government as voter support for the Coalition soars, a new poll has revealed.
The latest Morgan Poll showed that on a two-party-preferred basis, popularity for the Liberal-National Party jumped to 56.5 per cent (up by 0.5 per cent) compared to the Labor Party which dropped half a per cent to 43.5 per cent.
This comes as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull indicated on Monday that an election would most likely be held late next year.
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“Well, we’ll be going to an election next year… I would say around September, October next year is when you should expect the next election to be,” Mr Turnbull said on Monday.
The Morgan Poll also showed that primary support for the Coalition rose 0.5 per cent to 47 per cent, while support for the ALP increased by one per cent to 28.5 per cent.
Support for the Greens fell to 14.5 per cent (down one per cent), while Katter’s Australian Party is one per cent (down 0.5 per cent), Palmer United Party is one per cent (up 0.5 per cent), and Independents/Others are down 0.5 per cent to eight per cent.
Labor is down again on a two-party-preferred basis. Photo: Getty
The Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating was unchanged this week at 112 with 48 per cent of Australians saying the nation was ‘heading in the right direction’.
Meanwhile, 36 per cent of Australians agreed the country was ‘heading in the wrong direction’.
Roy Morgan Research executive chairman Gary Morgan said if there was a Federal election held right now, the Coalition would “win easily”.
“Today’s Morgan Poll shows the Turnbull government’s honeymoon continues with few, if any, positive suggestions from the Opposition on how they would manage the challenging economic conditions due to the fall in commodity prices,” he said.
“However the Coalition’s suggested policy of increasing the GST to 15 per cent is capable of dividing the nation unless handled correctly.
“While it is obvious an increase in the GST could be made fair and would then be supported by a large majority of the electorate – irrespective of what Bill Shorten and his colleagues say – the problem is how the ‘spoils’ are fairly divided.
“Irrespective of debating an increase in the GST the Federal Government must immediately introduce reforms to eliminate the ‘cash economy’ and free-up the labour market – the rorts uncovered at 7-Eleven and illegal union deals with big business should be at the top of the Turnbull government’s agenda.
“By implementing reforms to free-up the Australian labour market the new Turnbull government will have a much greater and more positive impact on the Australian economy overall – including increasing employment growth – than increasing the rate of the GST to 15 per cent.”
Speaking to Channel Nine last week, Opposition MP Anthony Albanese claimed Mr Turnbull was planning to call a March election in order to avoid delivering another budget.
But Mr Turnbull’s Deputy Julie Bishop denied the claims on Monday morning, saying the Prime Minister planned to lead the government to a “full term”.
The Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention was conducted during the past two weekends with an Australia-wide cross-section of 3262 Australian electors.
