‘Out of touch’: Palaszczuk’s collapse exposed in Courier-Mail poll last month

Annastacia Palaszczuk’s collapse in popularity was revealed in a Courier-Mail poll in November, with the disastrous result shocking even her most hard line supporters.

Annastacia Palaszczuk’s collapse in popularity was exposed by a poll released by The Courier-Mail in November, with the disastrous result shocking even her most hard line supporters.

The poll showed the Premier’s personal standing among Queensland voters had fallen sharply from her earlier highs, with more than half dissatisfied with her performance and the revelation she was no longer the state’s preferred leader for the first time.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk walks into a Labor caucus meeting at Parliament House in March, 2023.

While the exclusive YouGov poll showed the LNP had extended its two-party lead over Labor to 52-48, it was Ms Palaszczuk’s personal result which caused the most internal angst, and set the party on a path to pressure her to step aside ahead of the 2024 vote.

Ms Palaszczuk’s Cabinet and caucus colleagues lined up to disparage the poll results, but behind the scenes the whispers that a replacement and rejuvenation was a necessity grew louder as a direct result.

The poll revealed her net satisfaction rating now sat at an eye-waveringly low negative 20 – the worst ever result in The Courier-Mail’s YouGov polling history – and it was also noted her predecessor Campbell Newman suffered the same result in the months before he was ousted.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli now led as preferred Premier 37-35 – an extraordinary turnaround from February last year, where Ms Palaszczuk was overwhelmingly the favourite at 46-25.

The poll also revealed what Queenslanders thought about the Premier – with more than half describing her as “out of touch”, and a similar number declaring Ms Palaszczuk had run out of ideas.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk joins P&O to celebrate 90 years of cruising.

The perception the Premier was more interested in red-carpet events was also called out by those who were polled, though voters were more split on whether she remained Labor’s best hope for a victory – with 34 per cent saying she was, 35 per cent saying she wasn’t and 31 per cent unsure.

“Not good, disappointing, incompetent or poor performance” – these were the words almost 40 per cent of voters chose when asked to pick a word which described Ms Palaszczuk.

The one shining light was whether she had been a good Premier – with 44 per cent agreeing, and 37 per cent saying no.

Premier and Minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Annastacia Palaszczuk at the Brisbane 2032 Legacy Forum at the Brisbane RNA convention Centre.

While Ms Palaszczuk had long been regarded as Labor’s best campaigner – and subsequently the brightest hope to secure a Labor victory next year – The Courier-Mail’s poll showed Queenslanders had grown tired of her leadership, and a defeat was growing ever more likely.