Your Say SA survey shows Nick Xenophon preferred over Jay Weatherill and Steven Marshall as major party leader

A NEW survey shows SA Best supremo Nick Xenophon is the most trusted major party leader in South Australia. What do you think — VOTE NOW

• Mr X was ‘manipulative and controlling’ — Former lover.
• Xenophon to run for SA Parliament.
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• Your Say SA survey details in The Sunday Mail and advertiser.com.au

SA BEST leader Nick Xenophon is considered the state’s “Mr T” — far more “Trustworthy” than Premier Jay Weatherill and Opposition Leader Steven Marshall, new polling reveals.

With fewer than 100 days until the state election, exclusive figures from the Sunday Mail Your Say, SA survey show 49.5 per cent of respondents trust Mr Xenophon the most.

By comparison, just 20.1 per cent trust Mr Weatherill and 30.4 per cent trust Mr Marshall.

The results will come as a blow to the two major parties and come less than two months after a Galaxy poll showed Mr Xenophon was South Australia’s preferred premier.

The Sunday Mail survey, conducted for 22 days from October 28 to November 18, was during a tumultuous period for the former senator, who was accused by a former lover of “controlling and manipulative behaviour”. Mr Xenophon emphatically rejected the claims.

He also faced criticism for taking a job in his replacement’s office in Canberra.

The online survey of 3585 South Australians was also conducted after Mr Xenophon had to sack one state candidate within 24 hours of his candidacy after inappropriate social media posts emerged.

SA Best chief Nick Xenophon is considered more trustworthy than Jay Weatherill and Steven Marshall as a major party leader.

Political experts have told The Advertiser the figures should give Mr Xenophon confidence heading into the election but also warned that he should not rest on his laurels.

Griffith University political expert Paul Williams said the polling was a good sign for Mr Xenophon at a time when trust was declining in public institutions across the world.

“Australians are some of the most cynical and sceptical in the western world,” he said.

“Trust is a very complex and nuanced thing for voters.

“Any politicians outside the main game are potentially well placed to pick up this mistrusting voter vote.

“Nick Xenophon has played a centrist card — he has played this third-party role maybe the better than anyone in the country — as good as Don Chipp in the 1960s.”

Dr Williams, who has recently kept a close eye on the election in his home state of Queensland, where One Nation did not perform as well as expected, said Mr Xenophon was not guaranteed success despite the strong survey results.

Laurence Tureaud as Mr T in the A-Team series.

“Voters may go the Pauline Hanson route because it is not supported at the base by thousands of members doing the hard yards,” Dr Williams said.

He said politicians like Mr Xenophon and Ms Hanson were viewed differently to major party politicians.

“They are not tarred with the brush of ever being in government,” Dr Williams said.

“It is all care and no responsibility and they make much more vague aspirational policies. Donald Trump actually said ‘We will end crime’ and people bought that stuff — they do give them the benefit of the doubt.”

Flinders University school of social and policy studies senior lecturer Rob Manwaring said Mr Xenophon’s anti-politician schtick could be working in his favour — but that may not always be the case.

“Clearly part of his appeal is that he is not a major party and he has positioned himself outside partly politics,” Dr Manwaring said.

“But there is only so far he can push that message.

“Some of his other candidates need to come out from behind his shadow so people can identify them in their own right.

“I think they need to firm up more policies. They need to be clearer on where they are on a number of key policies.”

The Your Say SA polling showed 27.8 per cent of those surveyed thought a majority Liberal Government would be the best outcome for SA at the state election in March, followed by a minority Liberal/SA Best government, which was the preferred option for 23.8 per cent of respondents.

Mr Xenophon has said he wants to run 20 candidates at the state election.