Anthony Albanese’s positive ratings honeymoon over, second only to Kevin Rudd

Anthony Albanese’s run of voter political satisfaction has come to end. How did he stack up against his predecessors?

Anthony Albanese during question time in the House of Representatives on Monday. Picture: Martin Ollman/NCA NewsWire

Anthony Albanese’s honeymoon of voter political satisfaction has come to end in half the time Kevin Rudd enjoyed positive support, but it lasted longer than all the other prime ministers since, as well as John Howard.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, left, was recently criticised for buying a cheap lunch from Marrickville Pork Roll, amid the rising cost of living. Picture: Facebook

Faced with rising cost-of-living pressures, particularly on energy, food and fuel, as well as fighting a losing battle for support for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament and executive government, the Prime Minister’s standing has been gradually declining since May, a year since his election in 2022.

A fall into negative voter satisfaction has previously signalled a catastrophic collapse of support for a prime minister within the electorate and among colleagues or they can recover and survive a truncated honeymoon for more than a decade.

Mr Albanese’s “honeymoon” at 15 months is well short of Mr Rudd’s experience of 29 months after his election in 2007 but is just in front of the Liberals’ Mr Howard’s 14 months and well ahead of his other predecessors.

Anthony Albanese’s ‘honeymoon’ at 15 months is well short of Kevin Rudd’s experience of 29 months after his election in 2007. Picture: AAP

The latest Newspoll survey shows voter satisfaction with Mr Albanese dropped six percentage points to 46 per cent while dissatisfaction rose from 41 per cent in mid-July to 47 per cent, giving him a net negative satisfaction rating (minus 1) for the first time.

The length of time until the descent into negative voter satisfaction does not necessarily indicate a prime minister’s longevity, with some of the longest honeymoons resulting in the shortest-lived periods in office and some of the shortest resulting in the longest service.

Mr Rudd and Mr Howard faced more popular opposition leaders in Tony Abbott and Kim Beazley respectively than Peter Dutton, whose satisfaction rating in Newspoll is minus 11. Mr Rudd’s satisfaction rating started to fall after the global financial crisis and Labor’s policy on asylum-seekers buckled under pressure of the number of illegal boat arrivals and was the harbinger of a fall in ALP support. Despite his long positive rating Mr Rudd was removed as prime minister just 2½ months after hitting negative territory.

Former Australian Prime Ministers from left; Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott, John Howard and current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Picture: PMO via NCA NewsWire

But the end of Mr Howard’s 14 months of positive satisfaction, which followed tough industrial law action and budget cuts to counter the recession, did not lead to a leadership challenge or an election loss for another 10½ years.

Julia Gillard, who ousted Mr Rudd in a leadership challenge, had a positive rating for 8½ months until she lost Labor’s majority at the 2010 election and announced a carbon tax. Ms Gillard was removed as Labor leader and prime minister 27 months later.

Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s six months of positive rating – double Mr Abbott’s three months and three times Scott Morrison’s two – was followed by 17 months as prime minister while Mr Abbott got only 21 months before being removed by Mr Turnbull. But Mr Morrison served for 4½ years, his government winning re-election in 2019, before losing last year’s poll.