New contender? Poll indicates who Australia wants as Liberal leader and it’s not Turnbull or Dutton
THE battle for the Liberal Party leadership has been cast as a contest between Peter Dutton and Malcolm Turnbull, but a reader poll shows a huge surge in support for Julie Bishop. CAST YOUR VOTE.
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JULIE Bishop is the preferred leader of the Liberal Party, a News Corp reader poll reveals.
As Peter Dutton and Malcolm Turnbull fight over the party’s top job, the public has indicated they want someone else.
The poll ran on News Corp Australia websites on Tuesday and Wednesday and attracted a total of 72,183 votes.
It asked readers who should lead the Liberal Party out of a field of six candidates.
In a surprise result, 34 per cent of respondents said they wanted Ms Bishop leading the Liberals over 30 per cent who voted for Mr Turnbull.
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A further 17 per cent of respondents hoped Tony Abbott would get another run at the top job.
Poll respondents were far less keen on Mr Dutton leading the party ranking him as the fourth preferred leader. He only received 11 per cent of the vote.
Trailing him was Scott Morrison with five per cent and Christopher Pyne, who only attracted three per cent support.
The poll is a glowing result for Ms Bishop, who has rejected suggestions that she has her eye on the leadership. Instead it’s Mr Dutton who is fighting for the top job and he has strong party support.
Errata
Owing to a technical issue, earlier versions of this story showed inaccurate tallies of total votes cast. As at 5.30pm AEST on Wednesday, the poll had received votes from 72,183 respondents. The earlier error did not affect the reporting of the proportion of votes cast for each candidate.
Originally published as New contender? Poll indicates who Australia wants as Liberal leader and it’s not Turnbull or Dutton
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