Morrison flying high as Coalition drives recovery

Support for the Morrison government soars to the highest level in a year as the PM locks in record-high approval ratings.

Scott Morrison’s popularity is feeding into strengthened support for the ­Coalition. Picture: Andrew Taylor

Support for the Morrison government has soared to the highest level in a year as the Prime Minister moves to accelerate the economic recovery amid the Victorian and NSW health crisis.

An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows a dramatic swing towards the government over the past three weeks as Scott Morrison locks in record-high approval ratings.

It comes as the Prime Minister and Josh Frydenberg soften the ground for the release this week of an economic statement confirming the extension of the JobKeeper program amid a weakening economic outlook.

The significant electoral shift also follows a rebellion over climate change policy within Labor ranks, with right-wing MPs pushing Anthony Albanese last week to adopt the government’s 2030 targets.

The Coalition’s primary vote rose two points to 44 per cent as support for Labor fell a point, delivering a four-point turnaround in the two-party-­preferred vote, with the Coalition now leading 53 to 47.

The results show Mr Morrison’s popularity is feeding into strengthened support for the ­Coalition, which until now had maintained only a narrow lead over Labor during the COVID-19 crisis.

It has put the Coalition two points ahead of its election result of May last year. It is the best primary and two-party-preferred ­result for the Coalition since the first post-election poll last July.

It also marks a 10-point turnaround in the 2PP since the bushfire crisis in January, which had engulfed Mr Morrison’s leadership and had Labor leading the Coalition by 52 to 48.

Labor’s primary vote of 34 per cent recorded in the latest poll is only marginally higher than its election result of 33.3 per cent, which was regarded as a historical low for the party, and one point down on the last Newspoll conducted three weeks ago.

The Greens have fallen a further point to 10 per cent, marking a three-point fall in support from the party’s post-election high of 13 per cent.

Pauline Hanson’s support rose a point to 4 per cent, with a point being shaved from other minor parties on 8 per cent.

While the Victoria and NSW governments now battle second-wave outbreaks of coronavirus and a return to border controls and social restrictions, the Morrison government has shifted its focus to restoring jobs and bringing businesses out of hibernation.

The Newspoll shows Mr Morrison maintaining his historically high approval ratings throughout the crisis and continuing to widen the margin over Mr Albanese as the preferred prime minister.

His approval rating of 68 per cent remained unchanged, as did the level of those claiming to be dissatisfied with his performance, which stayed at a low 27 per cent.

Mr Albanese’s approval fell a point to 41 per cent, with no change to the 40 per cent disapproval.

Mr Morrison has a 33-point lead as preferred prime minister over his rival after lifting a further point to 59 per cent to an unchanged position for Mr Albanese on 26 per cent.

While the Opposition Leader has held significantly higher ­approval ratings than his predecessor, Bill Shorten, he is only just on the positive side of the popularity ledger with a net result of plus one.

Mr Morrison enjoys a net positive rating of plus 41.

The results, marking a three-week interval between surveys, mirrored similar gains for the ­Coalition at the Eden-Monaro by-election on July 4, which saw a swing towards the government of two percentage points and a fall in support for Labor.

The government only narrowly fell short of picking up the seat, which Labor managed to keep with a swag of minor-party preferences.

The poll was conducted ­between Wednesday and Saturday and surveyed 1850 voters across capital cities and regional areas.