Newspoll: Delta fallout drives Scott Morrison’s ratings to new low

Scott Morrison’s approval goes into negative territory and his government faces its worst electoral position since Black Summer’s fires.

The once-strong support for Scott Morrison’s handling of the coronavirus crisis has almost halved over the course of a year. Picture: Gary Ramage

Scott Morrison’s personal approval ratings have plunged into negative territory and the government faces its worst electoral position since the Black Summer fires amid growing frustration over the vaccine rollout and lockdowns across the three most populous states.

An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian also shows a further erosion of confidence in the federal government’s management of the pandemic as the NSW, Victoria and Queensland state governments battle to stem the spread of the Delta Covid-19 variant.

The once-strong support for Mr Morrison’s handling of the crisis has almost halved over the course of a year from a high of 85 per cent in April last year, during the peak of the first wave, to just 48 per cent in the latest survey.

And for the first time, more people – 49 per cent – claim to be unhappy with the Prime Minister’s management of the pandemic, with clear divisions now established among voters along party lines.

Confidence in the administration of the vaccine rollout also continues to fall despite the release last week of a four-step plan linking vaccination rates to the reopening of the country.

Popular support for the federal Coalition and Labor remains deadlocked at 39 per cent with no movement in the headline numbers for the major parties since the last poll was conducted three weeks ago.

The two-party-preferred split of 53-47 per cent, in Labor’s favour, also remains unchanged as the government faces its worst electoral position since the bushfire crisis of summer 2020.

With almost half the population now under some form of state government-imposed social restriction or lockdown, satisfaction with the Prime Minister’s performance has fallen into net negative territory for the first time.

The latest poll shows a four-point fall in the number of voters satisfied with Mr Morrison’s performance. This is the second such fall over the course of the past month leaving him with an approval rating of 47 per cent.

The number of those claiming to be dissatisfied with his overall performance as leader has risen by the same level – to 49 per cent, leaving the Prime Minister with a net approval rating of minus two.

It is the first time since March 2020 that Mr Morrison has found his personal support falling into negative territory.

It represents a significant shift in sentiment since last year and at the peak of the pandemic, when Mr Morrison enjoyed an approval rating of more than plus-40 per cent.

Mr Morrison still enjoys a lead over Labor leader Anthony Albanese, who last week offered to pay people $300 to get vaccinated, and whose net negative approval rating of minus eight remains unchanged at 38 per cent satisfied and 46 per cent dissatisfied.

Mr Morrison also maintains a clear advantage over his rival as preferred prime minister, although the gap on this metric has narrowed further to its closest margin since the last election.

Mr Morrison dropped two points to 49 per cent while Mr Albanese picked up three points to 36 per cent.

With the three major states locking down their capitals, the first time this has happened since the first wave of the pandemic in April 2020, confidence in Mr Morrison’s handling of the crisis more broadly has hit its lowest point with a four-point fall to 48 per cent in the space of three weeks among those still maintaining he was managing it well.

This was split heavily along party lines, with 74 per cent of Coalition voters claiming Mr Morrison was managing it well compared to 31 per cent of Labor voters and 26 per cent of Greens voters.

Younger voters were also the least satisfied at 42 per cent compared to 56 per cent of older Australians.

Backbiting from the NSW government over vaccine supply and mixed messages over the use of AstraZeneca has seen support for Mr Morrison’s management of the rollout fall a further two points over the past three weeks to 38 per cent with a two-point rise to 59 per cent of those who claim to be dissatisfied in the rollout.

This marks a gradual decline in favourability since the question was first asked in April, at which point the split was 53-43 and the majority were in support of the government.

The Newspoll, conducted between August 4 and 7, shows the Greens improving a point to 11 per cent while Pauline Hanson’s One Nation remains on 3 per cent.

Support for other minor parties fell a point to 8 per cent. The Newspoll was based on surveys of 1527 voters across metropolitan and regional areas.