‘He’s scary’: Why voters are turning on Peter Dutton
Voters have delivered a brutal verdict on Peter Dutton which shows why some are turning on the Liberal leader.
Federal Election
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Extreme, creepy, aggro, charmless, too ‘Trumpy’, looks better with glasses and a wanker.
This is the brutal verdict that voters have delivered on Peter Dutton in ALP focus groups that strategists are now weaponsing in the federal election campaign.
As Anthony Albanese continues his comeback in the polls on a two party preferred basis, news.com.au has obtained the negative feedback voters are delivering in ALP focus groups on why they’re turning on the Liberal leader.
And before the Liberal leader reads it he may want a cup of tea and cuddle from his loyal dog, Ralph. He may even need chocolate.
The emerging theme is that he is regarded by some voters as too extreme, too aligned with Donald Trump and “scary.”
But some voters went all the way to suggesting the former hard-man of the immigration portfolio should be running “a prison camp.”
“I just feel very negative, looks like Voldemort, seems like a standover man - I think he would just shake a tree and put walls up so nothing would really happen,’’ one voter in the Queensland seat of Leichhardt said.
“I don’t like the current Liberal leader Peter Dutton - he’s not behind his policies, it’s just talk - he says a lot of things just for an effect similar to Trump. He’s scary,’’ said another.
The comparison with the Harry Potter villain Voldemort, which the Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek made in 2022 before being forced to unreservedly apologise, is raised repeatedly in focus groups.
“I have heard negative things and seen a picture of him that looks like the villain of Harry Potter, nasty,’’ one voter said.
“[Dutton is] negative and unresponsive, he has no respect for the people just in it for himself. He’s sycophantic to Donald Trump.
“I really don’t like Dutton, he’s too much like Trump, too combative instead of offering solutions, just a negative person,’’ another voter said.
The feedback helps explain why Mr Dutton is now starting to draw a line in the sand with regard to the US President vowing to “fight him” over tariffs.
“When I see him speak - I just think evil: evil persona, Dr Evil, he’s inherently unlikable. Dutton is an old tool. He’s the lesser of two evils,’’ another voter said.
The results fit with the latest Redbridge poll out on Saturday that finds Peter Dutton’s pledge to send public servants back to the office has helped drive women over to Anthony Albanese,
The results also found the Coalition’s pledge to cut fuel excise and the government promised income tax are almost tied for the public’s affection with Labor now holding an election-winning-lead with 52 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote, up one per cent from last month.
The turnaround in Labor’s support in Redbridge’s poll, which last November had the Coalition leading 51 per cent to 49 per cent, has been driven by a huge turnaround in perceptions of the government’s priorities.
The focus group helps explain some of the reasons. In Brisbane, a voter told the ALP focus group that Mr Dutton “has a bad history and bad track record.”
“I remember when he was the hardman in immigration, said weird racist things,’’ the voter said.
In the western Sydney seat of Parramatta, some voters claimed he seemed like “a machine.”
“This Dutton guy seems racist, makes me feel like I don’t belong in Australia. He’s a machine, he can’t connect,’’ a female voter said.
“Dutton is robotic, not personable, I dunno if I can trust him. Direct can be positive - but is he direct and truthful or direct and misleading.”
“I just think out of touch, racist, and wants to be Trump. Didn’t realise he was so rich, he seems to not care at all about the working class.”
Dutton dismissed claims of racism as ‘disgraceful’
Mr Dutton has dismissed claims of racism in the past as disgraceful and way off the mark.
He was most recently forced to do so after independent MP Zali Steggall defended calling the opposition leader racist parliament and accused him of fuelling division with his political attacks over visa-holders from Gaza.
“I’m not a racist, and I’m not going to be standing here as a punching bag for people like Zali Steggall,” Mr Dutton told Nine’s Today Show in response.
“I actually think, ironically, that by calling out people unnecessarily and unrealistically and unjustly as racists, they’re actually fuelling tensions.”
‘A wolf in sheep’s clothing’
In the electorate of Solomon, a voter complains Mr Dutton was too aggressive. “I want someone who can negotiate with Trump,’’ the voter said.
In the electorate of Blair, a voter complained that Mr Dutton was a charmless man.
“Seems like a wolf in sheep’s clothing,’’ the voter said. “Could be dangerous.”
In the new electorate of Gorton in Victoria, a female voter complained she wasn’t impressed by the Liberal leader.
“[Dutton] seems like a jerk, he gives me the heebie jeebies,’’ she said.
In the seat of Leichhardt, a female voter told an ALP focus group in March that she was concerned.
“We’ve been discussing him at home, he just seems like a horrible person,’’ she said.
“Very forceful and intense. He seems detached, uncompassionate, racist - has these really controversial views. He seems really untrustworthy and arrogant, I’d be worried about someone like that in the primary role for Australia. You wouldn’t know what he will do until he gets in.
“He may have an agenda in the back of his mind and when he gets in [he would see that] as his mandate to do whatever he wants.”
In the electorate of Corangamite, a voter complained that he seemed to be saying “A Lot of things just for an effect similar to Trump.”
A male voter said Mr Dutton was “negative and unresponsive, he has no respect for the people just in it for himself.”
“He’s sycophantic to Donald Trump,’’ he said.
“He lacks humanity. Seems underhanded.”
A female voter said he “looks scary, like someone running a prison camp. “
“Dutton looks better with glasses, didn’t look human before,’’ one male voter in the electorate of Solomons told pollsters.
“My family are all Liberal voters but I really dislike Dutton, I don’t get a good feeling from him,’’ a female voter in Robertson said.
“He’s slimy, unrelatable - it’s just a female instinct, I don’t feel comfortable with Dutton. There’s no good vibes, he’s a snake.”
“He’s aggro it puts me off,’’ a female voter in the Northern Territory electorate of Solomon said.
“The way he speaks isn’t very genuine or interesting.” A male voter in the same seat described him as “very calculated and one dimensional.”
“I just find him creepy and can’t trust him - I don’t know what he would do or say,’’ a woman in the Victoria electorate of Holt said.
“I don’t like Dutton - it’s the way he comes off as extreme - like when he concentrated too much on his extreme views on Australia day which is something I don’t really care about. Like he’s a bit detached from society - I just heard last week he has a huge property portfolio,’’ a male voter in Holt said.
“I don’t value Dutton as a human being - something about him being Trumpy, or something about his face?,’’ a male voter in Lyons, Tasmania said.
“Dutton is aggressive, he doesn’t care about the people and wants to line his own pockets. When I see him on TV he appears like he’s just an aggressive wanker.”
“Not getting a good vibe,’’ a female voter in the Northern Territory said.
“My vibe is he is dodgy - he has own agenda but he’s not advertising that.”
“Dutton just seems fake - [like he’d be a] sheep, be a mini trump,’’ a voter said.
“Maybe compared to Albanese he could [come off] strong, but in a fake way.”
Originally published as ‘He’s scary’: Why voters are turning on Peter Dutton
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