Scott Morrison gets post-election surge as voters swing behind him on back of tax cuts

Scott Morrison has led the Coalition to its strongest electoral position in four years, according to the first Newspoll since the May election.

Scott Morrison’s government has skyrocketed into its best electoral position in four years, according to the first major opinion poll since the Coalition’s surprise election win.

The latest Newspoll shows the Morrison Government has picked up wide support and doubled its lead over Labor since the May election.

The Australian reports that the Coalition now leads Anthony Albanese’s Labor opposition by six percentage points (53-47 after preferences), doubling the three per cent margin it secured over Labor at the election.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during at the WA State Liberal Party Conference. Picture: AAP

The Coalition now enjoys a healthy 44 per cent primary vote — up six points from election day — with Labor more than 10 points behind on just 33 per cent, down four per cent from the election.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Morrison, who was credited with almost single-handedly dragging the Coalition back into power from a seemingly hopeless position, is well ahead on the question of who voters think would make the better Prime Minister.

Mr Morrison leads Mr Albanese by 48 to 31, a far wider gap than the 45-38 lead he held over former Labor leader Bill Shorten back in May.

Plenty to smile about now. Prime Minister Scott Morrison arrives at the WA State Liberal Party Conference. Picture: AAP

Shortly before the election, Mr Morrison had a net satisfaction score of zero — meaning the same number of people were happy with how he was doing his job as were unhappy with him. His net score is now 15, compared to a score of three for Mr Albanese.

However, in good news for the new Labor leader, the 36 per cent of voters dissatisfied with Mr Albanese is well below the highs of 53 per cent for Mr Shorten.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has a lot of work to do. Picture: Kym Smith

Support for the Coalition has grown in the wake of the passage of the government’s $158 billion income tax cuts, drought funding package and national security legislation.

At the same time, Labor has found itself under fire on a number of fronts, including criticism of the make-up of its front bench and policy backflips on areas including the tax cuts.

The poll of 1601 voters was conducted across all states.

One Nation’s support continues to wallow at three per cent, while the Greens have risen two points to 11 per cent since the election.

Scott Morrison led the Coalition to an unexpected win at the May election. Picture: AAP

Mr Morrison told the Western Australia Liberal Party conference on Saturday: “Labor treated the election campaign as some kind of coronation tour. Labor thought all they had to do here in WA was to turn up and take a bow.

“What this said was that to Labor it was all about them, they were so focused and remain so ­focused on themselves.

“The election result on May 18 was no fluke, as some would like to rewrite history.”

— With reporting by The Australian.

Originally published as Scott Morrison gets post-election surge as voters swing behind him on back of tax cuts