The pollies we like to like – and the ones we love to hate

Australian voters have judged Jacqui Lambie to be the nation’s most likeable federal politician, backing the Tasmanian senator ahead of major party leaders in an exclusive new survey.

Lambie, an outspoken independent who often rails against the major parties, has a net likeability rating of 14 per cent and is considered one of the most recognisable people in politics.

Ups and downs: Lidia Thorpe (left), Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Jacqui Lambie and Barnaby Joyce.Credit: Michael Howard

But voters have ranked Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe as the least likeable in federal politics, giving her a net rating of minus 41 per cent after her protest in Parliament House during the visit of King Charles in October.

Thorpe, the Indigenous firebrand who quit the Greens in early 2023 and now sits on the crossbench, has seen her rating deteriorate from minus 29 per cent one year ago.

The survey, conducted for this masthead by research company Resolve Strategic, is based on questions to 1606 voters nationwide about whether they have heard of a politician and whether they have a positive, neutral, or negative view of that person.

“The most striking feature of this analysis is that there is only one politician with double-digit positive net likeability,” Resolve director Jim Reed said.

“There’s nobody to follow, or who inspires or gives hope right now.”

Nationals senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has emerged as the second most likeable leader, with a net rating of 8 per cent, reflecting her prominence as the Coalition’s key opponent of the Indigenous Voice in last year’s referendum.

She was followed by Liberal senator and former trade minister Simon Birmingham, a party moderate who has chosen to leave politics, and independent senator David Pocock, the former rugby champion who now represents the Australian Capital Territory in parliament.

While voters were mildly positive about Birmingham and Pocock, giving them ratings of 7 per cent and 5 per cent respectively, they gave strongly negative views about some of the most recognisable names in politics.

Voters gave an equal net rating of minus 13 per cent to two leaders on opposite ends of the political spectrum, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and Greens leader Adam Bandt.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was given a net rating of minus 17 per cent, down from minus 3 per cent one year ago, coinciding with the federal government’s slump in popular support.

The prime minister’s result has worsened from his “honeymoon” net likeability of 34 per cent at the end of 2022.

His result was eclipsed, however, by the net rating of minus 22 per cent for Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, although voters scaled back their dislike from his net result of minus 27 per cent last year.

This meant Thorpe was almost twice as unpopular as Joyce.

The findings show Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has climbed ahead of other political leaders to post a net rating of zero, better than the result of minus 12 per cent one year ago.

More than a dozen politicians shared the “net zero” outcome, including deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley, Nationals leader in the Senate Bridget McKenzie, Education Minister Jason Clare and Industry Minister Ed Husic.

Some key members of the Coalition team emerged with positive ratings, albeit with lower levels of name recognition compared with Dutton. Voters gave shadow treasurer Angus Taylor and defence spokesman Andrew Hastie net ratings of 4 per cent. Education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson received a 2 per cent rating.

The Resolve Political Monitor was conducted from December 4 to 8 and put questions to 1606 respondents selected to reflect the broader population by location, age, gender and other factors.

Voters were shown a list of 60 political figures and asked whether they had a positive, neutral or negative view of each of them, generating a net likeability rating by subtracting the negative number from the positive one.

“Likeability is not the same as electability – you can still be respected without it, but it helps in getting a fair hearing from voters,” said Reed.

“Instead of competence, likeability is about authenticity and alignment.

“Politicians such as Lambie and Price are real – raw even. You get what you see, the kind of honesty and trust that is a rare commodity in politics.

“Thorpe has that to a certain extent, but most voters think she’s misaligned with their own attitudes and values.”

Many of the political figures were not known to more than 30 or 40 per cent of the respondents, a key factor for independent MPs such as Kate Chaney, Helen Haines and Monique Ryan.

The most recognisable politician with a positive rating was Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who was known to 89 per cent of voters and gained a net likeability result of 2 per cent. Wong led the list one year ago with net likeability of 14 per cent.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek was given a net rating of minus 5 per cent in the December survey, after a year of criticism from the Greens over decisions to approve some gas and coal projects and the Senate’s objections to her draft law to set up Environment Protection Australia. Her net likeability was 3 per cent one year ago.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers was known to 71 per cent of respondents and had a net rating of minus 7 per cent, a decline from a zero rating one year ago during a period when voters reported increasing anxiety about the cost of living. The treasurer had a positive rating of 11 per cent at the end of 2022.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.