Support for Labor rebounds in latest Newspoll
Tue Nov 17 03:03:47 EST 2009
Mon Nov 16 16:03:47 UTC 2009
SYDNEY, Nov 16 AAP - Support for Labor has rebounded in the latest Newspoll, with Kevin Rudd maintaining a strong lead as preferred prime minister despite Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull gaining some ground amid the asylum-seeker debate.
The latest Newspoll, published in The Australian newspaper on Tuesday, has Labor on 56 per cent on a two-party preferred basis, a rise of four percentage points.
Support for the coalition declined by the same margin to 44 per cent.
Labor's primary support was up two points to 43 per cent, while the coalition was on 37 per cent, down four points.
The previous Newspoll, published a fortnight ago, had shown a significant slump in support for Labor - down seven points to 52 per cent on a two-party preferred basis - amid the asylum-seeker debate.
A week ago rival pollster John Stirton said Newspoll was probably a rogue poll after his Nielsen poll, published in Fairfax newspapers, showed the asylum-seeker debate hadn't affected support for Labor.
Mr Rudd still retained 63 per cent support on the question of who would make the better prime minister in the latest Newspoll, unchanged from a fortnight ago.
Mr Turnbull's personal approval rating rose by three percentage points to 22 per cent.
Questioned about the Newspoll on ABC television on Monday night, Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop drew the focus back to the asylum-seeker debate, saying it was an issue that would not be determined by week-by-week polls.
Asked again about Labor's comeback in the polls, Ms Bishop said: "My concern is that Australia have a strong border protection policy.
"Mr Rudd has weakened that policy and that must be resolved."
On The Australian website, Newspoll's Martin O'Shannessy said the poll confirmed the trend picked up in the previous poll of a fall in two-party preferred support for Labor since September.
"The interesting thing about Malcolm is he is rebuilding back to the levels before UteGate," he told the newspaper, referring to Mr Turnbull's use of a fake email that purported Mr Rudd had helped a Brisbane car dealer mate access a government finance scheme.
"But the prime minister's support as the better prime minister has remained high in 11 consecutive Newspolls."
