Labor leads Coalition on climate change, economy, new RPM data shows

Voters have swung toward Labor to back its handling of more than a dozen major policy challenges ahead of the October 25 budget, with 36 per cent naming the party as best to handle the economy compared to 30 per cent who prefer the Coalition.

The support has lifted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Labor to a strong lead in the electorate across issues ranging from the nation’s finances to foreign affairs and climate change, while the Coalition leads on national security by a fraction of a percentage point.

Albanese has also kept a personal edge over Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of 53 to 18 per cent when voters are asked to name their preferred prime minister, the third consecutive month with a gap of this scale between the two rivals.

The exclusive survey, conducted by Resolve Strategic for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, reveals a slight fall in the Liberal Party’s primary vote from 28 to 26 per cent over the past month and a slight gain for the Greens from 10 to 12 per cent.

Labor held its primary vote at 39 per cent in the latest survey in a sign the party has retained most of the extraordinary boost to its core support in the months after the May election, when it won power with a primary vote of only 32.6 per cent.

“Labor is past its honeymoon zenith from August, but still riding high as it settles in,” said Resolve director Jim Reed.

“Albanese and Labor hold strong leads over the Coalition in most policy and performance areas now, and it’ll be some time before the Coalition is able to rebuild strengths.

“It’s not unusual for a new government to hold leads over a weakened opposition with a new leader, but the turnaround from our early 2021 polling is quite remarkable.”

The Resolve Political Monitor surveyed 1604 eligible voters from Wednesday to Sunday, a period when federal political debate was focused on whether the government should amend the stage three personal income tax cuts. The margin of error for the national results was 2.4 percentage points.

The monthly survey asks voters about 17 policy areas and found the Coalition had the edge early this year on issues such as economic management, national security, managing the nation’s finances and managing COVID-19.

In the latest survey, however, Albanese and Labor held the lead in 16 of the policy areas and increased its lead in each of them over the past month.

On healthcare and aged care, 43 per cent backed Albanese and Labor while 17 per cent preferred Dutton and the Coalition, while the result was 41 to 20 per cent in education and 38 to 20 per cent in transport infrastructure.

On environment and climate change policy, 38 per cent backed Albanese and Labor while 13 per cent backed Dutton and the Coalition, with a result of 34 to 17 per cent on managing natural disasters.

Asked which side was best to manage the finances, 33 per cent named Labor while 31 per cent named the Coalition and 28 per cent were undecided. By contrast, voters preferred the Coalition by 39 to 23 per cent on the same question in February.

On the response to the pandemic, 34 per cent backed Albanese and Labor in the latest survey compared to 22 per cent who preferred Dutton and the Coalition. This compares to the lead for the Coalition of 33 to 26 per cent in February this year and a lead for the Coalition of 42 to 20 in April last year.

On national security and defence, 33 per cent backed Dutton and the Coalition and 33 per cent backed Albanese and Labor when the figures were rounded to whole numbers. The lead for the Coalition was a single percentage point after rounding up in the latest survey. The Coalition led by 42 to 19 per cent on the same question in the first Resolve Political Monitor in April last year.

The government increased its lead on 16 of the 17 policies tracked in the monthly survey when the latest results were compared to the September results, but the support for Albanese and Labor remains slightly lower on most issues when compared to the August survey, which reflected the “honeymoon” for the government after the election.

Asked about Albanese in the latest survey, 60 per cent of voters said he was doing a good job and 24 per cent said he was doing a poor job, the same result as one month ago.

Asked about Dutton, 31 per cent said he was doing a good job and 41 per cent said he was doing a poor job, producing a net rating of minus 10 points, an improvement from minus 12 one month earlier.

When voters were asked which of the two sides had the party and leader they considered best, 42 per cent said Labor and Albanese were competent while only 20 per cent backed the Coalition and Dutton. Asked which side was honest and trustworthy, 34 per cent named Labor and Albanese while 16 per cent named the Coalition and Dutton – the same result as in the survey one month earlier.

Asked who was best for the country, 39 per cent said Labor and Albanese while 21 per cent said the Coalition and Dutton while 29 per cent were undecided and 11 per cent preferred others.

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