Premiers riding a wave of popularity

All state premiers, bar one, ride wave of popularity with approval ratings alongside Scott Morrison for handling of coronavirus crisis.

READ MORE: Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, here in Brisbane on Monday, is fighting to regain trust, writes Craig Johnstone.Picture: AAP

State premiers are riding a wave of unprecedented popularity, earning approval ratings ranking alongside Scott Morrison for their handling of the coronavirus crisis, with the exception of Queensland’s ­Annastacia Palaszczuk.

READ MORE: The Premier of Western Australia, Mark McGowan, is earning universal praise for his performance, writes Victoria Laurie.

An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows West Australian Labor Premier Mark McGowan, who faces an election in March next year, enjoyed the highest support for his handling of COVID-19, with 94 per cent saying he had managed it well.

This was reflected in a broader approval rating of 89 per cent in a state that regards itself as apart from the rest of the country.

Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian both recorded a surge in support for their handling of the coronavirus crisis, but Ms Palaszczuk has been ranked the worst-performing of the state leaders during the crisis as she heads toward a state election in six months.

Ms Palaszczuk’s approval ratings were lower than her counterparts by a large margin, suggesting broader economic issues were in play in Queensland as they head to the ballot box on October 31.

READ MORE: Yoni Bashan writes the pandemic has revealed a shrewd and tough NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

READ MORE: A steady Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has taken advantage of the crisis, writes Rachel Baxendale.

The exclusive Newspoll measures the state leaders’ performance during the pandemic as well as their broader approval ratings, while pitting this against the Prime Minister’s ranking.

It comes in the wake of tension between Mr Morrison and state and territory leaders over the reluctance by some to reopen schools despite advice from the Chief Medical Officer, Brendan Murphy, that it was safe for children to return to school for term two.

While 72 per cent of Queensland voters said Ms Palaszczuk had performed well, this had not translated into the same gains as other leaders, with her overall approval rating at 55 per cent satisfied and 39 per cent dissatisfied.

Ms Palaszczuk’s approval rating was still ahead of her previous highest score of 53 per cent in September 2015, and well ahead of the pre-2017 election poll when only 40 per cent of voters said they were satisfied with her performance.

Newspoll on premiers in coronavirus crisis

The poll of the state leaders’ performance during the corona­virus showed Tasmania’s Liberal leader, Peter Gutwein, enjoyed 89 per cent backing for his management, despite an unexplained outbreak in the state’s northwest.

His overall approval rating was 84 per cent satisfied and 11 per cent dissatisfied, leading to a high net approval rating of 73 per cent.

Mr Andrews, who has been at loggerheads with the federal government over school closures, was not far behind on 85 per cent on his performance managing the crisis with a general net approval rating of 58 per cent.

South Australian Liberal Premier Steven Marshall had the backing of 82 per cent of local voters for handling the crisis well, with a net approval rating of 47 per cent.

READ MORE: The Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein is shining with skills no one knew he had, writes Matthew Denholm.

READ MORE: The South Australian Premier Steven Marshall has maintained calm in testing times, writes David Penberthy.

Ms Berejiklian, who has weathered her own a storm of controversy over NSW Health’s bungling of the Ruby Princess cruise ship disembarkment, was not viewed as highly as most of her colleagues, recording a 77 per cent support for her response to the virus outbreak.

She had the second-lowest approval rating of 46 per cent.

Ms Palaszczuk’s net approval rating was only 16.

The exclusive poll shows the Prime Minister’s approval ratings were ahead of state premiers in three of the six states. Support for Mr Morrison was highest in Western Australia, with 85 per cent of voters there approving of his management of the ­crisis.

In Victoria and South Australia, 83 per cent of voters believed he was handling the crisis well, as did 82 per cent in NSW and 81 per cent in Queensland and Tasmania.

The national Newspoll largely coincides with the state-by-state breakdown, showing Mr Morrison’s approval ratings rising to the highest level for a prime minister since 2008, and second only to Kevin Rudd since Newspoll began testing in the mid-1980s.

The Prime Minister recorded a 68 per cent approval rating nationwide, with a net positive rating of 40 per cent.

Newspoll on premiers in coronavirus crisis

The state-by-state analysis of Mr Morrison’s broader approval ratings showed he lagged behind all the premiers, with the exception of Ms Palaszczuk.

The Prime Minister’s highest approval rating was 73 per cent in WA, which coupled with a dis­satisfaction rating of 23 per cent produced a net positive result of 50 per cent.

In Victoria, Mr Morrison’s approval rating was 72 per cent, a net positive result of 46 per cent.

In South Australia, 70 per cent of voters approved of Mr Morrison’s performance more broadly, with a net positive rating of 43 per cent.

His weakest numbers were in NSW and Queensland, where the premiers also suffered the worst results compared with other leaders. Mr Morrison had a net positive approval of 39 per cent in Queensland and 37 per cent in NSW.

The Newspoll was conducted between April 21 and April 26, based on 2908 interviews among voters in the six Australian states conducted online. The sample size included 524 interviews in NSW, 526 interviews in Victoria, 513 interviews in Queensland, 518 interviews in South Australia, 518 interviews in Western Australia and 309 interviews in Tasmania.

The margin of error based on the sample size was plus or minus 4.3 percentage points in the five larger states and plus or minus 5.6 percentage points in Tasmania.