Newspoll: Voters don’t know whether to trust Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese
Scott Morrison remains the least trusted PM in more than a decade but Anthony Albanese is running a very close second.
Scott Morrison remains the least trusted prime minister in more than a decade but Anthony Albanese is running a very close second, with overall confidence in national political leadership on a downward decline.
An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows that both men have a trust deficit with the electorate, with Mr Morrison recording the lowest score for a prime minister since this question was first asked in 2008.
While only 40 per cent of voters claimed Mr Morrison was trustworthy, only 44 per cent said the same for the Opposition Leader, who on average fares no better than his predecessor Bill Shorten did.
Voters still regard Mr Morrison as a more experienced and decisive leader than Mr Albanese but consider the Prime Minister to be less caring and more arrogant and significantly more out of touch with people than his rival.
Neither was viewed as having a particularly strong vision for Australia compared to previous leaders. Mr Albanese was considered to be the less arrogant of the leaders, and was considered more likeable than Mr Morrison or Mr Shorten.
With an election due to be held by May 21, The Australian polled voters on a range of attributes considered to be important to informing their choice.
The results chart a decline for Mr Morrison across a range of leadership characteristics since becoming Prime Minister.
But they also show that while voters were slowly warming to Mr Albanese, a large proportion had yet to make up their mind about him.
Mr Morrison scored highest on the question of experience, with 70 per cent support among voters. This was a one-point rise since November last year but a nine-point decline from his peak of 79 per cent in April last year when he rivalled Kevin Rudd as a steady hand on the tiller.
Mr Morrison scored lower across eight of the nine key attributes than in November last year when voters were last surveyed.
While 60 per cent of voters believed he was arrogant – compared to 38 per cent for Mr Albanese – this was a consistent feature of past prime ministers with Mr Morrison rating no higher than others.
But fewer than half believed he was decisive and strong. At 48 per cent, this marked a six-point fall since November but a 22 per cent drop since the peak of his leadership during mid-2020 at the height of the pandemic.
This was the lowest score for a prime minister since the survey of attributes was first conducted.
But he was still ahead of Mr Albanese on 46 per cent, a three-point rise but still lower than any former opposition leader.
Only 59 per cent cited Mr Albanese as experienced, which marked a one-point fall, and a five-point deficit on his highest ranking of 64 per cent a year ago. Mr Shorten was considered experienced by 70 per cent of voters before losing the election.
Mr Morrison was also considered by only a third of voters as being in touch with their issues and concerns, with only Tony Abbott having scored lower.
While Mr Albanese was regarded as being more in touch with voters than Mr Morrison – 51 per cent to 37 per cent – he was less so on average than his predecessor Mr Shorten.
When Mr Shorten left office he was regarded by only 43 per cent of voters as being trustworthy. Mr Albanese scored 44 per cent in the latest survey, a five-point decline since becoming leader in 2019.
But 22 per cent had not made up their mind yet on whether he was trustworthy or not.
Voters ranked Mr Albanese as a more caring leader than Mr Morrison – 57 per cent to 48 per cent.
Mr Shorten was also ranked ahead of Malcolm Turnbull on this measure.
Mr Morrison was still regarded by a majority of voters as understanding the major issues but trailed Mr Albanese 58 per cent to 53 per cent.
There was little difference in the view of both leaders when it came to their vision for Australia, with Mr Albanese enjoying just a two-point margin.
In August 2020, 72 per cent of voters believed Mr Morrison had a vision for the country compared to just 53 per cent now.
About half of voters – 51 per cent – agreed that Mr Albanese was likeable compared with 44 per cent for Mr Morrison.
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