Labor still comfortably in front, LNP in slump, but their state leader’s more popular

A NEW YouGov Galaxy poll has revealed Labor in front on all measures, and that support for the LNP Opposition has waned, despite a growing number of respondents backing the performance of leader Deb Frecklington.

QUEENSLAND’S LNP Opposition has suffered a slump in support, despite a growing number of voters backing the performance of leader Deb Frecklington.

A new YouGov Galaxy poll, conducted exclusively for The Sunday Mail, has revealed the LNP’s hard-fought gains in support have been stripped away in the past three months.

The major parties end 2018 with their voter base all but unchanged from last November’s state election which saw Labor scrape over the line with a two-seat majority in Queensland’s 93-seat State Parliament.

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The results show the two-year high in LNP support that was recorded in August has been wiped out, but Ms Frecklington has chalked up the highest satisfaction for a Queensland opposition leader in three years.

LNP insiders have been blaming the pervasive cacophony in Canberra, which culminated in the dumping of prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in late August, for a failure to cut through with Queenslanders.

Annastacia Palaszczuk continues to dominate as preferred premier. Picture: Kym Smith

The latest poll shows Labor’s primary vote inched forward from 35 per cent in August to 36 per cent, marginally higher than the 35.4 per cent recorded at the election.

The LNP’s vote has fallen from 37 per cent to 34 per cent.

The Greens and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation remain on 11 per cent and 10 per cent respectively, meaning both parties continue to be a threat for Labor and the LNP.

On a two-party-preferred basis, Labor leads the LNP 53 per cent to 47 per cent, based on voting patterns at the last state election.

Satisfaction with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s performance rebounded after a slump in August, with 46 per cent of Queenslanders now approving of her efforts, compared to 37 per cent who were dissatisfied.

YouGov Galaxy Poll results graphic

Ms Frecklington’s efforts were backed by 35 per cent of voters, an increase of four per cent and the highest result for an opposition leader since Lawrence Springborg in February 2016.

However, the number dissatisfied with the Opposition Leader crept up from 26 per cent to 29 per cent.

Ms Frecklington, the third-term Member for Nanango, has been fighting to raise her profile with a high social-media profile, several key policy initiatives which have been mimicked by the Government and a relentless travelling schedule.

Ms Palaszczuk, however, continues to dominate as preferred premier, although her LNP opponent has closed the gap.

The YouGov Galaxy poll showed 43 per cent of voters back Ms Palaszczuk as the better premier, well down on the 54 per cent she achieved three years ago.

Ms Frecklington improved from 23 per cent three months ago to 26 per cent — her first gain after progressively going backwards since snaring the LNP leadership last year.

Deb Frecklington’s popularity with voters is on the rise despite her party falling in support. Picture: Liam Kidston

STEVEN WARDILL ANALYSIS: 

Frecklington hobbled by toxic canberra infighting as lnp loses touch with voters

THERE is unlikely to be a Queenslander who wants the federal election resolved sooner than Deb Frecklington.

The LNP leader is in the paradoxical position where her appeal among voters is finally on the way up, yet her party’s support has sagged like a lukewarm souffle.

In the 10th year since the merger of the Liberal and National parties in Queensland, brand LNP has morphed into a toxic acronym. The macabre political spectacle of their Canberra colleagues – particularly Malcolm Turnbull’s flaying – continually eclipses the Opposition’s efforts to point out the State Government’s shortfalls.

It is not without irony that the coup was kicked off by a Queenslander in Peter Dutton, a man mocked by critics for having the electoral appeal of a three-day-old baked potato.

Meanwhile, faceless bit players within the party have ordered themselves up a lynch mob after a few MPs from southeast Queensland – the area where the LNP needs to win – backed abortion reform.

These acts are those of a party that has lost touch with voters and what it takes to win. They prefer fighting each other than their opponents.

Frecklington was little known when she assumed the LNP leadership. However, this might be the first term in a very long time when Queensland’s conservatives in opposition haven’t swapped a leader.

That’s no small achievement against a Government that does little wrong but turned doing very little into an art form.

Frecklington needs the federal poll to be over. That will likely give her less than 18 months to cook up an alternative government in the hope that Queenslanders are hungry for change.