‘Lethal’ attacks on Prime Minister Scott Morrison only marginal

Labor has engaged in a brutal character assassination of Scott Morrison, framing him as a bully and a liar who goes missing during a crisis.

The success of Anthony Albanese’s two-year strategy to target Morrison personally is reflected in the Prime Minister’s dive in the polls, fuelled by ferocious commentary from political enemies like Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.

The little-examined question is how lethal is this personal brand-damage for Morrison’s re-election prospects?

Internal Liberal research indicates it isn’t as devastating for the government as Labor strategists claim.

It boils down to where the voters who vehemently detest Morrison live.

The Prime Minister is diabolically unpopular in inner-city areas. Many of these seats are already held by Labor.

In those that aren’t, like Wentworth and North Sydney, a sighting of Morrison will be rare during the campaign.

Moderate Liberals want to keep the Prime Minister at arm’s length to give MPs like David Sharma and Trent Zimmerman the best chance of against independent candidates.

It’s a different story in many crucial marginal seats Morrison needs to win.

Far from a drag on the vote, he is well-liked, even popular.

This is the case for outer western Sydney suburban areas, regional NSW, like the Hunter, the central coast and the south coast, Victoria’s outer western suburbs and regions such as Dunkley, Corangamite and McEwen, and Tasmania and in Queensland.

Contributing to the Morrison government’s appeal in suburban areas has been their policy-focus on blue-collar workers and aspirational voters.

Internal Liberal polling, obtained by The Australian, shows that in the seat of Hunter, 26 per cent of voters dislike Morrison and 48 per cent like him, while 33 per cent have a negative view of Albanese and only 18 per cent like him.

In Dobell, 23 per cent of voters have formed a negative view of Morrison while 54 per cent had a positive response, compared with 28 per cent disliking Albanese and 24 per cent liking him.

“Yes, Labor has done a character-assassination job and have managed to damage (Morrison) in many different parts of the country,” a senior Liberal strategist concedes, “but our research is showing he is liked in marginal seats. If our research was not showing he was liked, we would not be putting him out there.”

Over the course of the campaign, Albanese can no longer get away with attacking Morrison and sidestepping questions on policy. He will need to withstand the scrutiny of a six-week campaign.