Both sides of fence suffering identity crisis

POLLING shows only 17 per cent of voters believe Labor is a party that shows strong leadership.

FIVE years after federal Labor won government, only 15 per cent of voters believe the party is clear about what it stands for, who it represents and what its goals and objectives are.

New polling shows that Labor continues to face an identity crisis and that only 17 per cent of voters believe Labor is a party that shows strong leadership.

The polling, conducted by Essential Media Communications and released to The Australian, also gives little comfort to the Coalition or the Greens on questions of leadership and identity.

It shows 20 per cent of voters believe the Coalition parties have the sharpest identity, while just 13 per cent of voters nominated the Greens.

In a bad sign for all parties, the poll shows that 34 per cent of voters believe that no major party has a clear identity, goals or a political constituency, while 42 per cent say no party shows bold, innovative or dynamic leadership.

Labor outpolls the Coalition as the party most closely associated with the policy values of sharing economic prosperity and social justice, fairness and compassion.

But on the issues of environmental sustainability and also security, defence and "playing a constructive role in global affairs", the Coalition is ahead of Labor.

The Greens are seen as the party most associated with environmental sustainability but score poorly in other areas. The Greens are judged by just 13 per cent of voters as having a clear identity, goals and constituency while only 5 per cent of voters see them as a party offering strong leadership.

On "creating and extending opportunity for all" -- often sprouted as a core Labor value -- the ALP has drawn level with the Coalition on 26 per cent.

The poll of 1000 voters conducted this month, replicates the questions in a June 2011 poll published in The Australian.

Since then, Labor has improved the clarity of its brand by just three percentage points, lifting to 15 per cent, which is within the margin of error of 2 to 3 per cent.

While the difference for Labor in the 18-month period was minimal, the Coalition's identification as a party wanting to grow and share economic prosperity fell from 33 per cent to 25 per cent.

The Coalition also fell on representing the value of social justice, from 24 per cent to 19 per cent.

EMC director Peter Lewis said: "It shows voters have a low level of understanding about the values of both of the major parties."