Premier suffering massive slide in personal support just as Labor looks to lock in election date

PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk’s popularity has taken a massive hit, falling to its lowest level ever, just as Labor looks to lock in an election date.

QUEENSLANDERS have turned off Annastacia Palaszczuk with the once-popular Premier suffering a massive slide in personal support just as Labor looks to lock in an election date.

A new Galaxy Poll has revealed Ms Palaszczuk’s post-Cyclone Debbie appeal has been blown away as satisfaction with the Premier’s performance has fallen to its lowest ever level.

Commissioned exclusively for The Sunday Mail, the poll also shows One Nation’s vote has further eroded and Pauline Hanson’s supporters have begun parking their votes with the LNP.

Yet Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls’ appeal has flatlined with the Clayfield MP still well short of the popularity of his predecessor, Lawrence Springborg.

Many Labor insiders expected an election this year.

However, Ms Palaszczuk’s punctured popularity may tempt the party to postpone pulling the trigger until early next year in the hope another storm season improves her appeal.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk during question time in State Parliament. File picture

According to the poll of 900 Queenslanders taken late last week, satisfaction with Ms Palaszczuk performance nosedived to 39 per cent after hitting 47 per cent after Cyclone Debbie.

Dissatisfaction jumped from 35 per cent to 44 per cent.

The results indicate Labor’s “jobs bonanza” Budget has bombed while the Premier’s “governing in the regions” has failed to ease unrest about high unemployment.

Meanwhile, satisfaction with Mr Nicholls has remained stranded on 27 per cent for six months. However, dissatisfaction with the Opposition Leader declined from 45 per cent to 41 per cent.

Ms Palaszczuk’s lead as preferred premier also declined sharply with 42 per cent preferring the Labor leader over 30 per cent for Mr Nicholls.

Poll results show Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls is not as popular as his predecessor Lawrence Springborg. Picture: Tim Marsden/AAP

The poll found support for Pauline Hanson’s party dropped from 17 per cent to 15 per cent in the past three months, well down from the 23 per cent high achieved in February.

The LNP picked up the dislodged One Nation supporters, increasing from 34 per cent to 36 per cent, well short of the 41 per cent achieved at the last election.

Labor’s vote slipped to 35 per cent compared to 37.5 in 2015.

On a two-party-preferred basis, Labor remains in front 51 per cent to the LNP’s 49 per cent.

However, this would rely on half of One Nation’s supporters placing Labor second on their ballot papers under Queensland’s new compulsory preferential voting system.

With Parliament expanded from 89 to 93 seats next term, Labor needs to gain three seats for an outright majority while the LNP needs a further five.

One Nation could still pick up several seats with its vote concentrated in the regions and could hold the balance of power with Katter’s Australian Party.

Environment Minister Steven Miles said Ms Palaszczuk hadn’t suffered a real drop in approval; rather her popularity had been inflated in the wake of Cyclone Debbie.

“I think the comparison point for those claims is just after Tropical Cyclone Debbie, so I think actually what you’re seeing there is a very high favorability in the previous poll for the way the Premier handled Tropical Cyclone Debbie because she did a really fantastic job,” he said.

Asked whether the Premier might wait until after another cyclone before calling the election, Mr Miles said the timing of the election was up to her.

“Us mere ministers are just getting on with all the things she’s asked us to do this term,” he said.