Morrison cops backlash over treatment of women
Voters have rounded on the PM, with a seven-point fall in the key indicator measuring satisfaction with his performance as leader.
Scott Morrison’s approval ratings have tumbled to their lowest point in a year as the government struggles to contain the backlash from ongoing sex scandals, rape allegations and claims it is failing to address the systemic issues around the treatment of women.
An exclusive Newspoll for The Australian shows voters have rounded on the Prime Minister over his handling of the concerns, with a seven-point fall in the key indicator measuring satisfaction with his performance as leader.
However, the Coalition appears to have been spared further political damage with popular support for the Liberal and Nationals’ parties lifting a point to 40 per cent against a one-point fall for Labor to 38 per cent.
The two party preferred vote of 52-48 per cent in Labor’s favour remains unchanged on the results of the previous Newspoll conducted a fortnight ago.
In the first signs that the litany of issues that have engulfed Canberra since February have become a top-of-mind issue for voters, Mr Morrison’s approval ratings fell from 62 per cent to 55 per cent in the space of the past two weeks.
It is the first time in more than a year that his approval ratings have not been in the 60s.
Mr Morrison’s disapproval ratings rose six points to 40 per cent, which reduced his net satisfaction ratings to plus 15 per cent.
While the lowest approval rating for the Prime Minister since March last year, in the wake of the summer bushfire crisis, support for his leadership remains significantly stronger than a year ago when it was as low as minus 21.
At his peak in July last year, Mr Morrison enjoyed net favourability of plus 41 per cent.
Satisfaction with Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s performance remained largely unchanged, lifting a point to 43 per cent and resulting in a net favourability of plus two.
Mr Morrison also suffered a fall in the head-to-head popularity contest with a four-point fall to 52 per cent as the preferred prime minister. Mr Albanese rose two points to 32 per cent.
While the margin in favour of Mr Morrison remains significant, it is the narrowest gap between the two leaders since March 2020.
It also reflects a 15-point turnaround since February when Mr Morrison led the contest on a 35-point margin of 61 per cent to 26 per cent.
The slight improvement in the primary vote for the Coalition follows a two-week period that began with the national March 4 Justice women’s rally, a Coalition staffer sacked for masturbating on an MP’s desk, reports of staff orgies in Parliament House and the sacking of an LNP MP for stalking and harassing women.
But it still remains below the election result of 41.4 per cent, and comes on the back of a three- point fall to 39 per cent in the March 13 Newspoll following the alleged sexual assault allegations levelled at Attorney-General Christian Porter, who has denied the allegations and is suing the ABC for defamation in response.
While Labor’s primary vote dipped back to 38 per cent, from a high of 39 per cent in the previous Newspoll, it remains at its strongest level of support since prior to the 2019 election.
The fall for Labor corresponded with a one-point gain to 11 per cent for the Greens, which remains consistent with its 10.4 per cent result at the last election.
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party fell a point to 2 per cent and its lowest levels since the election.
The latest poll is the second in a row to have Labor leading on a two-party-preferred basis.
The two parties had been deadlocked on 50-50 since the start of the year.
The poll was conducted between March 24-27 and surveyed 1517 voters across capital cities and regional areas.
The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
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