Warringah MP Zali Steggall’s popularity slips in new survey
The keen environmentalist who toppled a former prime minister in last year’s federal election has seen her approval ratings dip in a new survey.
Manly
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Independent MP Zali Steggall’s approval rating with voters has slipped after a year in office.
The keen environmentalist who toppled the former prime minister Tony Abbott with a massive grassroots campaign has failed to move the dial in Warringah, according to a uComms survey.
The mother-of-five and Olympian Ms Steggall received 43.5 per cent of the first preference votes in last year’s election win over Mr Abbott, who got 39 per cent.
But in the new uComms survey taken this week asking Warringah residents who they would vote for if an election was held today shows her first preference numbers have dipped.
It found she would only get 34.9 per cent of the vote, behind the Liberals at 39.1 per cent.
Nevertheless, on a two-party preferred basis Ms Steggall would still claim 56 per cent of the vote, with the Liberals on 44 per cent meaning she would still win an election by a large margin.
In the 2019 Federal Election Ms Steggall polled 57.2 per cent of the vote on preferences, compared to the Liberals’ 42.9 per cent.
Commenting on the poll, Ms Steggall said the results suggests continued dissastisfaction with the Liberal Party.
“Issues like integrity, climate change and freedom of the press are still very important to the electorate and I would say the poll results have shown a continued dissatisfaction with the federal Liberal party despite the prime minister enjoying a high approval rating at the moment,” she said.
“Interestingly, the primary Labor vote has gone from six per cent at the election to 12 per cent in this poll.
“The Liberal primary vote has gone from 51 per cent in the 2016 election to 39 per cent at the 2019 election and despite many claiming the drop was due to Tony Abbott’s divisiveness, this poll shows it remains at 39 per cent.
“What is more relevant is there has been an increase in Labor and Greens votes.”
In the uComms survey of 690 people taken on June 30, Labor polled 12.6 per cent of first preference votes and the Greens 6.7, per cent.
Earlier this year Ms Steggall launched her Climate Change Bill to Federal Government, which she later decided to postpone because of COVID-19.
She also launched a Warringah’s Roadmap to Zero website with tips for residents on how to reduce their carbon footprint.
Recently, she has strongly campaigned in support of protecting public land around the harbour at North Head and Mosman from being privatised.
Liberal spokesman for Warringah Andrew Bragg said it is unclear who commissioned the uComms survey and therefore it is difficult to comment on.
However, he argued that Ms Steggall’s voting record in parliament is very clear in that she generally votes with Labor and the Greens.
“The voting record is the most important thing for people to reflect upon,” he said. “The member for Warringah generally votes with the Labor Party.
“There is a clear misalignment, Warringah didn’t vote for a Labor Party person.”
It comes as the results of Ms Steggall’s own residents’ survey found their most pressing concerns are climate change and traffic, the same issues residents had a year ago.
It found that 88 per cent say climate change and/or preservation of the environment is the issue that most concerns them, with 77 per cent wanting her to advocate on climate change legislation.
But locally 50 per cent of the 4,975 who returned surveys said they want traffic and congestion, particularly on the Spit Bridge fixed the most, with 11 per cent concerned about development, infrastructure, planning and overdevelopment.
Ms Steggall said her team was “working tirelessly to serve our community through local constituent meetings; advocating on issues such as the protection of lands managed by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust; and proactively supporting local schools and community groups with grant opportunities”.
Mr Bragg said the problem with all independents is that they are “impotent and unable to deliver”.
“That is going to be this member’s problem,” he said.
“The issues that may be important to the member are not necessarily going to get traction in Canberra at the end of the day.
“It is executive government that drives the agenda.
“If people of Warringah want a seat at the table they will have to consider that.”