Steven Miles gains on David Crisafulli as preferred premier 100 days out from Qld election

Exclusive Courier-Mail polling has delivered David Crisafulli and the LNP a brutal wake-up call as Steven Miles launches a surprise fightback.

Steven Miles has gained ground on David Crisafulli as preferred Queensland premier.

• Your say: ‘Wishy washy nonsense’

Steven Miles has gained a small bump from voters seven months into the job, new polling has revealed, though he remains the most unpopular Queensland Premier in 13 years.

The Courier-Mail’s new YouGov poll 100 days out from the seminal state election revealed Mr Miles has gained ground on Mr Crisafulli amid a cost-of-living cash splash.

But the result still presents the worst result for a Premier since the poll was first commissioned in 2011.

In mixed results for the LNP, David Crisafulli has made no inroads in voter satisfaction since the last poll in April, though he remains the most popular Opposition Leader from his party going into an election since Campbell Newman.

The YouGov poll, of 1019 voters between July 8-15, shows Mr Crisafulli remains the preferred Premier.

The indefatigable Mr Miles has fronted the cameras nearly every day since taking on the job in December, including significant travel into regional Queensland.

The poll also comes after a cost-of-living spending spree in the state budget that included freebies like $1000 off energy bills, 50 cent public transport fares, discounted car registration fees, and sweeteners for first home buyers.

Steven Miles remains the most unpopular Queensland Premier in 13 years despite a small gain in The Courier-Mail’s latest poll.

But that has translated into just a small six-point bump in voter satisfaction, with 31 per cent of voters now satisfied with his performance up from 25 per cent in April.

Another 44 per cent of those polled remain unhappy with Mr Miles while 25 per cent are undecided.

Queenslanders are still less satisfied with the way he has performed in the role than Annastacia Palaszczuk before she was turfed out of office.

Mr Miles’ net satisfaction rating is now -13.

The last time a Premier other than Mr Miles rated this low was Ms Palaszczuk in February 2020 right before Covid-19 and Mr Newman before he was ejected in 2015.

Steven Miles is still more unpopular than Anna Bligh …

… and Campbell Newman before their respective election losses.

On the measure of preferred Premier, Mr Miles stands at 29 to Mr Crisafulli’s 40 — an improvement for the incumbent from April but still worse than Mr Newman (ahead 45-40) and Anna Bligh (trailed 43-50) before their respective brutal electoral losses.

Voter net satisfaction with Mr Crisafulli has increased from +14 in April to +17 in the July poll, but this is because a small number of dissatisfied voters now consider themselves undecided.

A steady 40 per cent of those polled are satisfied with the way Mr Crisafulli is performing, while 23 per cent are unhappy and another 37 per cent undecided.

It is the third consecutive YouGov poll where Mr Crisafulli has led as the preferred Premier.

The result comes after the Opposition, in the aftermath of the budget, outlined its housing policy — which included more generous concessions for first homeowners.

David Crisafulli is Queensland’s preferred premier for the third consecutive YouGov poll. Picture: Lachie Millard

The LNP has also promised to hand out harsher sentences for young criminals who commit serious crimes as part of its hard-line “adult crime, adult time” policy.

Previous YouGov polls show that by this time of the election cycle, a larger slice of voters had solidified their views on Mr Newman and Ms Palaszczuk, indicating Mr Crisafulli still has work to do to define himself in the minds of more Queenslanders before October.

But his net satisfaction rating of +17 is the highest of all opposition leaders bar Campbell Newman, who recorded a +27 net satisfaction rating five months out from the 2012 election.

His net satisfaction rating is the highest for an LNP opposition leader in the last decade, with his contemporaries Deb Frecklington and Lawrence Springborg never hitting a net satisfaction rating higher than +6 or +8 respectively.

Treasurer Cameron Dick on Thursday said The Courier-Mail’s YouGov poll showed there was a “very real chance” Mr Crisafulli would become the next Premier of Queensland.

But he vowed the government would “stay relentlessly focused on doing what matters for Queensland”.

“David Crisafulli is the $1.20 favourite to be the next Premier of Queensland. Just ask every bookmaker in Queensland,” Mr Dick said.

“But Queenslanders have absolutely no idea how he will pay for all the promises he’s making”.

Originally published as Steven Miles gains on David Crisafulli as preferred premier 100 days out from Qld election