Peter Gutwein’s approval rating second highest of all Australian premiers

According to a poll, Premier Peter Gutwein has won the approval of Tasmanians with his leadership and handling of the COVID-19 pandemic – but he says his job is not a “popularity contest”.

HIS popularity is soaring, but Premier Peter Gutwein has downplayed a poll which showed an overwhelming majority of people were satisfied with his leadership and handling of the coronavirus crisis.

A Newspoll conducted by The Australian saw 89 per cent of 309 Tasmanians surveyed say Mr Gutwein was handling the COVID-19 situation either very well or fairly well.

Meanwhile, 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.

The rating of Mr Gutwein — who replaced Will Hodgman in the top job in January — was the second-highest of all Australian premiers, only behind Western Australian leader Mark McGowan.

But Mr Gutwein provided only a short response about the results when asked about the poll on Tuesday morning.

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“I didn’t go in to this as if it were a popularity contest, and it’s not,’’ he said.

“We’ve had to make some very difficult decisions and I’m pleased that Tasmanians have worked with us.”

Mr Gutwein said dealing with a coronavirus pandemic was not in the job descriptions of senior government and public service officials, but he thanked them for stepping up in a time of crisis.

Political analyst Kevin Bonham said the poll showed high satisfaction levels for most of the premiers’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr Bonham said the popularity of Mr Gutwein and Mr McGowan could be attributed to their leadership style, and their respective states’ distinctive geographical profile and isolation.

“I think Gutwein and McGowan are seen as no-nonsense, straight-talking sort of types,’’ he said.

Dr Bonham said Mr Gutwein’s high approval rating could be helped by the fact he was new in the job and his short tenure to date meant he had not “accumulated” enemies.

But he said some of the approval ratings in the survey were among the highest he had seen in Newspoll history.

Labor leader Rebecca White said it was important the community had confidence in its leaders.

“That’s why Labor is working closely with the government on its response to COVID-19 and is backing measures taken by government to protect Tasmanians,’’ she said.

“This crisis is not over, and the Government still has much more to do, particularly in leading Tasmania towards economic and social recovery from the impacts of COVID-19.”

The poll was conducted between April 21 and 26 and included 2908 interviews among voters in the six Australian states.

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