Only one-third of voters are satisfied with Scott Morrison, new study reveals

As the federal election inches closer, a new poll has indicated Scott Morrison is fighting for his political life.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison faces an uphill battle to win over Australians ahead of an anticipated May election, with the latest Newspoll showing Labor retains a convincing lead over the government.

The survey shows the Coalition’s primary vote remains on 34 per cent, the lowest since the 2018 Liberal leadership spill, while Labor has maintained its primary vote peak of 41 per cent – it’s highest since the spill.

The poll follows a chaotic week in parliament with the Morrison government pulling its Religious Discrimination Bill after five Liberal MPs crossed the floor to side with Labor on amendments to protect transgender students.

The Prime Minister also suffered damaging leaks from cabinet.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese’s net approval rate fell three points to 40 per cent, while the level of discontent with Mr Morrison remains near that of February 2020 following the Black Summer bushfires.

Meanwhile, an Australian National University study, which examined the views of more than 3400 Australians, found confidence in the federal government has plunged to levels not seen since the fires.

According to the study, a little more than three in 10 people were satisfied with the government last month – down from a recorded high of 60.6 per cent in May 2020.

Study co-author Nicholas Biddle said the results were only up slightly on the government’s performance during the Black Summer bushfires when satisfaction hung around 27 per cent.

“One of the potential reasons for this drop in satisfaction with the direction of the country is that respondents don’t feel that key institutions are handling the pandemic as well as they have in the past, or as well as they should be doing given the current circumstances,” the professor said.

Confidence in the government has not been this low since the Black Summer bushfires. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The study spells trouble for the Prime Minister, who is desperate to reset the narrative following a summer marred by surging Covid cases, rising death rates and rapid antigen test shortages.

It’s just the latest in a series of bad polls for the government, which indicate if an election were to be held now, they could face a political wipe-out.

Fighting for his political life, Mr Morrison on Sunday issued an emphatic plea to voters to keep him in the job for another term.

“Every week I get to serve the Australian people as Prime Minister is the best week you can imagine you can ever have,” he said.

“It lights me up every day, having the great privilege of doing this job and to be able to do the things that we do.”

A series of destabilising leaks has contributed to the cause. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The survey also examined how many Australians expected to be infected with Covid-19, with as many as 80 per cent of people indicating they thought they would catch the virus within the next six months.

“This is a doubling compared to October 2021, when two-in-five, or 40 per cent, of Australians thought they would be infected,” study co-author Professor Matthew Gray said.

“Our study also shows 56 per cent of adult Australians had taken a RAT or PCR in the last three months, but 22.4 per cent of adult Australians could not get tested when they wanted to.”

Originally published as Only one-third of voters are satisfied with Scott Morrison, new study reveals