Fed: Fewer see Turnbull capable of leadership: survey
By Colin Brinsden29 Jun 2009 4:30 PM
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CANBERRA, June 29 AAP - The news doesn't get any better for Malcolm Turnbull with a fourth opinion poll questioning his ability to lead the opposition, his honesty and his vision for the party.
The weekly Essential Research online survey found Mr Turnbull's disapproval rating spiked to 57 per cent, up from 49 per cent in May, while his approval rating was down six points to 24 per cent.
At the same time, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's approval rating with 1,145 respondents is steady at 62 per cent, with just 27 per cent - down two points - disapproving of his performance.
Labor improved its two-party preferred position by one point to 58 per cent as the coalition dipped to 42 per cent.
Respondents saw Mr Turnbull as intelligent and hard working, but only 39 per cent regarded him as a capable leader, down from 60 per cent in September last year.
Nearly 70 per cent regard him as arrogant, two out of three feel he is out of touch with ordinary people while about half say he is too inflexible and narrow-minded.
One in six respondents viewed him as honest, compared to one in four previously.
Mr Turnbull was also marked down on whether he would be good in a crisis (32 per cent) and whether he was a visionary (26 per cent).
Mr Rudd, seen as slightly more intelligent and hard working than his opposite number, was regarded as a capable leader by 72 per cent of respondents.
But more respondents than a year ago detect an arrogance about the prime minister. The percentage of people who think Mr Rudd is arrogant has risen to 47 per cent from 25.
The good news is that more people than not think he's good in a crisis.
The OzCar affair, in which Mr Turnbull demanded the resignations of Mr Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan, has prompted nearly one in two people to view the opposition leader more negatively.
Mr Rudd did not escape unscathed from the affair with one in five seeing him more negatively against one in four who saw him in a more positive light.
Mr Swan's negative ratings (27 per cent) from OzCar slightly exceeded the positive views (25 per cent).
But in both Mr Rudd and Mr Swan's case recent political events had no impact on one in two respondents.
