Turnbull and Shorten marked down

Voters have sharply downgraded Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten on key leadership qualities, Newspoll finds.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and PM Malcolm Turnbull.

Voters have sharply downgraded Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten on key leadership qualities, marking them down on trust, decisiveness and whether they have a vision for the nation.

In a danger sign for the government, Mr Turnbull has the lowest rating of any prime minister over the past nine years on the vital attributes of being visionary and decisive, despite his pledge to deliver a new style of leadership.

A special Newspoll, published exclusively in The Australian, shows the Prime Minister holds a lead over the Opposition Leader on a majority of positive personal qualities but has lost ground on every front since last year’s election. Mr Shorten has an advantage on two key measures — that he cares for people and is in touch with voters — and has seen his personal ratings fall by smaller amounts than Mr Turnbull on six of the eight positive attributes.

Voters consider both leaders to be increasingly arrogant, with Mr Turnbull’s score rising from 60 to 64 over the past year and Mr Shorten’s from 47 to 50 per cent.

Mr Turnbull is seen as less trustworthy than before the July election, with his rating falling from 56 to 50 per cent, while voters scaled back their respect for his understanding of the major issues, down from 63 to 57 per cent.

After a bitter dispute over Mr Shorten’s claim of a secret plan to privatise Medicare, voters have also turned against the ­Opposition Leader when asked if he is trustworthy, with his rating falling from 49 to 44 per cent.

PDF: Leadership traits Newspoll

The political debate on trust flared again in question time yesterday when Mr Shorten claimed there was a “secret taskforce” to slash support for private health ­insurance — an idea Mr Turnbull said was not and never would be government policy. “Labor knows that their lies about Medicare are being found out — and desperate as ever, they grab for one new conspiracy theory after another,” Mr Turnbull said.

At 44 per cent, Mr Shorten’s ­result on trust was the lowest of any quality surveyed in the special Newspoll of 1655 voters conducted last weekend. It is lower than any leader’s rating on trust over the past nine years, except for Tony Abbott’s in February 2015.

Voters considered Mr Turnbull to be more experienced than Mr Shorten, by 73 per cent to 61 per cent, although both leaders’ ratings fell on this measure by one point from the previous such Newspoll survey last May.

In a severe blow to the government’s bid to claw back support from voters, Mr Turnbull has lost more ground on the core attribute of being decisive and strong, with only 55 per cent of voters describing him this way compared with 63 per cent one year ago and 66 per cent in February 2016. Asked if Mr Turnbull had a vision for Australia, only 59 per cent of voters agreed in the latest poll compared with 67 per cent a year ago.

While Mr Turnbull had a lead of eight percentage points over Mr Shorten on vision during the election campaign, this has narrowed to just three even though the ­Opposition Leader has also lost ground on this measure.

At 55 per cent, Mr Turnbull’s rating as a “decisive and strong” leader is the lowest for any prime minister over the past nine years and is lower than Mr Abbott’s rating of 57 per cent in February 2015.

Mr Turnbull also has the lowest rating on “vision for Australia” of any prime minister over the past nine years, with his 59 per cent ­result lower than Mr Abbott’s 61 per cent in February 2015 and Julia Gillard’s rating of 64 per cent in April 2012.

In another sign of voter disenchantment with both leaders, respondents consider Mr Shorten to be the least decisive and strong of any leader over the past nine years, with his result of 48 per cent lagging Mr Turnbull’s and ranking higher than only one other survey — his own result of 43 per cent early last year.

At 56 per cent, Mr Shorten’s rating on “vision for Australia” is lower than any leader’s result over the period other than his result of 53 per cent in February 2016.

Labor was buoyed by a Newspoll published in The Australian yesterday showing it had kept its lead over the Coalition of 53 per cent to 47 per cent in two-party terms, with Queensland Labor senator Murray Watt declaring the government was “on the nose” with voters. “They appear to have had no bounce whatsoever from the budget and I’m not really surprised by that because I haven’t picked up anything out there that makes me think that people have changed their minds about Malcolm Turnbull,” he said.

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg noted that Mr Turnbull had increased his rating as preferred prime minister — rising one point to 45 per cent — and that voters had backed key budget policies including the bank levy and the increase in the Medicare levy.

The latest survey is the 13th consecutive Newspoll where the Coalition has trailed Labor. Mr Turnbull cited the loss of “30 Newspolls in a row” as a reason for challenging Mr Abbott in 2015.