Newspoll: voters back Peter Dutton as more experienced, stronger than Anthony Albanese

In findings that will set the scene for a clash of competing personalities, Peter Dutton is now regarded by voters as more experienced and decisive than Anthony Albanese.

An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows Peter Dutton is the first opposition leader since Tony Abbott to ­outflank a prime minister on three of the key leadership attributes considered critical to the political contest. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Peter Dutton is now regarded by voters as a more experienced, stronger and more decisive leader than Anthony Albanese despite being less likeable and trusted, in findings that will set the scene for a clash of competing ­political personalities ahead of the next election.

An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows Mr Dutton is the first opposition leader since Tony Abbott to ­outflank a prime minister on three of the key leadership attributes considered critical to the political contest.

The Liberal leader was also considered to have a better understanding of the major issues ­affecting voters than Mr Albanese, with cost of living a central plank of the partisan clash between the two leaders.

However, Mr Dutton also ranked as the least likeable and least trusted leader of either of the major parties since the ­attributes of leadership were first tested by Newspoll in 2008.

Mr Dutton was also regarded as less caring and more arrogant than the Labor leader. The findings, the first Newspoll to test the key leadership ­attributes in a ­contest between Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton, show that the Opposition Leader outranked the Prime Minister as the more experienced leader by a margin of 70 per cent to 66 per cent.

It is the first time an opposition leader has led a prime minister on this measure since Mr Abbott went up against new Labor prime minister Julia Gillard in 2010. Prime ministers since have ­traditionally held the upper hand as the more experienced leader.

Mr Dutton, who had served as a minister in the defence and home affairs portfolios when the ­Coalition was last in government, was considered to be a stronger and more decisive leader than Mr Albanese. Again, the last opposition leader to have enjoyed this advantage over a prime minister was Mr Abbott against Ms Gillard.

This is despite the accepted wisdom that incumbency would normally afford a prime minister an advantage on both these leadership attributes.

Mr Albanese has been prime minister for more than 18 months, served as opposition leader for almost three years and served as deputy prime minister and a senior cabinet minister in both the Rudd and Gillard governments.

According to the special Newspoll of 1219 voters, Mr Dutton rated 58 per cent on the question of decisive and strong leadership compared with 48 per cent for the prime minister.

This was the highest rating for an opposition leader since Mr ­Abbott in 2013 when he led Mr Rudd on this measure ahead of the election.

Mr Albanese’s score was the lowest of any prime minister since 2008.

Mr Dutton also scored ahead of Mr Albanese on understanding the major issues – 57 per cent to 54 per cent. This was an advantage that Mr Albanese had previously held over Scott Morrison by the end of the Covid-19 pandemic in November 2021.

However, when asked about the attributes of caring for people, Mr Albanese held a large margin over Mr Dutton – 61 per cent to 45 per cent.

Mr Dutton’s appeal on this measure was the lowest of any leader in 15 years.

He was also regarded as more arrogant, with 57 per cent of voters agreeing with this proposition compared with 45 per cent for Mr Albanese.

However, Mr Dutton was ­considered less arrogant than his predecessors at their the peaks ­including Mr Morrison (58 per cent), Mr Abbott (77 per cent) and Mr Turnbull (64 per cent).

Mr Shorten as opposition ­leader had also scored higher than Mr Dutton (59 per cent) at one point during his leadership.

Mr Albanese was considered more likeable than Mr Dutton with 57 per agreeing compared with 39 per cent for Mr Dutton. This was the lowest level of likeability for an opposition leader since polling of this measure began.

However previous prime ministers at the height of their popularity, with the exception of Mr Abbott, all scored higher ratings than Mr Albanese at various points during their leadership.

Mr Dutton scored poorly on whether voters considered him trustworthy at 41 per cent. This was also the lowest score of any leader since the attributes of leaders was first tested by Newspoll in September 2008.

Mr Albanese by comparison was considered trustworthy by 49 per cent of voters.

The prime minister was also considered more in touch with voters than Mr Dutton – 46 per cent to 41 per cent.

The survey of voter opinions of the two leaders’ personal characteristics follows an end-of-year ­rebound for the government, with Labor lifting its primary vote by two points in the past three weeks to 33 per cent, compared with a two point drop in primary vote for the Coalition to 36 per cent.

Labor ends the year with a 52-48 per cent two party preferred lead over the Coalition.

However, the approval ratings of both leaders remains in negative territory with Mr Albanese on a net negative approval rating of minus eight and Mr Dutton on minus 11.

The gap between the two ­leaders on the question of who would make the better prime ­minister was 11 points in Mr Albanese’s favour – a margin that has almost halved since the middle of the year.