CT pollsters out of touch with suburbs, regions

Liberal MPs will push back against any future involvement from long-time Liberal polling outfit CT Group after its involvement in the disastrous Yes23 campaign.

CT Group co-founder Mark Textor.​

Liberal MPs will push back against any future involvement from long-time Liberal polling outfit CT Group after its involvement in the disastrous Yes23 campaign.

Several conservative and moderate Liberal MPs say they do not want CT Group to be involved in the next election campaign, with party sources saying that Freshwater Strategy will likely take on most of the work.

The polling outfit, formally known as Crosby Textor, was founded by Mark Textor and Lynton Crosby has been the Liberal Party’s preferred pollsters for more than 20 years.

Freshwater Strategy is led by experienced pollster and strategist Michael Turner, whom Liberal Party sources endorsed as highly regarded within the party.

Senior Liberal sources said a decision on a pollster had not been made, noting the party did not use Freshwater Strategy for polling during the voice campaign.

Liberal National Party senator Gerard Rennick said CT should not be used by the Coalition in the future after its assistance to the Yes campaign. “They’ve been milking the party for too long – grassroot members don’t want their membership fees wasted on political careerists whose values don’t align with theirs,” he said.

Two senior conservative MPs said they would lobby against CT being engaged by the Liberal Party going forward. “Not if I have anything to do with it,” one said.

“They nailed their colours to the mast against the party when the party took a formal position.”

Another said: “I didn’t need to see their effort on this. I saw their effort on the 2022 election and the 2016 election. They have been wrong more often than they have been right.

“I can guarantee they won’t be getting much work going forward. I can assure you there is no love for Crosby Textor from the leadership team on the Right.”

One moderate Liberal MP questioned whether CT was any good and wanted all polling and consultancy to be put to tender.

A CT Group spokesman said: “We will not be responding to opportunistic comments that are clearly based on a misunderstanding of our role in the campaign.”

One Liberal Party source told The Australian CT’s involvement in the voice campaign had created division with Peter Dutton and suggested the polling outfit had become too swept up in “inner-city issues”.

Another source said the ­Coalition was “not thrilled” with CT’s connection to the voice but acknowledged Mr Textor’s longstanding personal commitment to recognition.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan also suggested the polling outfit had become out of touch with the majority of voters in suburban and regional areas.

“In recent years I have seen CT provide political advice that seems blinkered by the big buildings they work from.

“They need to get out of the inner city and connect with the vast majority of our voters in the suburbs and regions. Good political advice should be grounded in the real world experience of Australians who sometimes struggle to pay the bills.”