Newspoll: Arrogant Scott Morrison ‘caring’ and ‘likeable’

Scott Morrison has a higher level of support than any PM in more than a decade and the largest margin over an opposition leader since at least 2008.

Scott Morrison is ranked as the most experienced leader since Kevin Rudd in 2013. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Voters rate Scott Morrison as a more likeable, caring, decisive and trustworthy leader than his rival Anthony Albanese.

And on the critical election question of who has the stronger vision for Australia, Mr Morrison now has a commanding lead of 70 per cent to 54 per cent.

It is a higher level of support than any other prime minister in more than a decade and the largest margin over an opposition leader since at least 2008.

An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows Mr Morrison leading Mr Albanese across all leadership traits with one exception.

Voters believe the prime minister is more arrogant than the Opposition Leader, albeit less haughty than Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott or Kevin Rudd during his second reign as prime minister.

The special Newspoll, the first since last August to consider the traits or virtues defined as those most important in a leader, shows Mr Morrison to be a more trustworthy leader than his opponent by a margin of 57 per cent to 48 per cent.

 

Despite the political challenges of the past three months, this is a belief that is largely unchanged over the course of the past year, with Mr Morrison rating 59 per cent in August 2020 compared to 48 per cent in December 2019.

He is also ranked as the most experienced leader since Mr Rudd in 2013 — at 79 per cent — despite having still served less time as prime minister than Mr Turnbull or Julia Gillard.

On this metric, Mr Morrison leads Mr Albanese 79 per cent to 64 per cent, a change of only one point in favour of the Labor ­leader in the past nine months. Mr Morrison has also maintained his lead as a more caring leader than Mr Albanese — 63 per cent to 59 per cent — despite the gap narrowing four points since August last year.

The last time a conservative party leader held this sort of advantage over a Labor leader was in 2013 when Mr Abbott was considered slightly more inclined to care for people than Mr Rudd.

Asked to consider the two leaders as decisive and strong, Mr Morrison also dominated, despite falling five points to 65 per cent. Mr Albanese dropped two points to 45 per cent.

Despite the recent criticism of Mr Morrison, and contrary to some portrayals, the Prime Minister was also considered far more likeable than Mr Albanese. His lead of 11 points on this metric has remained unchanged since August last year, with both leaders dropping a point — 63 per cent to 52 per cent. In December 2019 they were held in equal affection at 56 per cent apiece.

The most significant loss of confidence among voters was their assessment of Mr Morrison’s grasp of the major issues. In August last year, at the height of the second wave COVID outbreak in Victoria, 75 per cent of people agreed he understood their concerns.

Anthony Albanese, left, with Linda Burney and Warren Snowdon at Uluru.

While this has fallen to 65 per cent, confidence on this issue remains above 2019 levels of 56 per cent. The Prime Minister also maintains a lead over Mr Albanese, who fell four points to 57 per cent in the latest survey.

Mr Morrison also lost some ground on being in touch with voters, falling five points to 54 per cent over the course of nine months, but still remains ahead of where he was in 2019 and before the bushfire crisis battered confidence in his leadership. He also remains ahead of Mr Albanese, who fell a point to 47 per cent and remains below the post-2019 election level of 50 per cent.

Mr Albanese’s strength remained the perception that he was less arrogant than Mr Morrison, with 47 per cent believing the Labor leader had tickets on himself compared to 54 per cent for the Prime Minister.