Just one in six people believe they will be better off as a result of the Abbott government’s second budget, according to a Seven News ReachTel poll.
The telephone poll of 3,180 people showed 16.4% of respondents believed they and their family would be financially better off, while 30.3% said they would be worse off.
A majority – 53.3% – responded that they would be in “about the same” financial position as a result of the budget.
The ReachTel poll was conducted on Wednesday, the day after the budget was delivered by the treasurer, Joe Hockey, as media coverage was dominated by the government’s promotion of small-business tax breaks to help “Tony’s tradies”.
In a sign that the $3.5bn in extra spending on childcare was overshadowed, four out of five respondents said businesses were the group that benefited most from the 2015 budget.
The poll asked people to choose between “families” or “businesses” in assessing the biggest winners. Just one in five respondents chose families.
Despite persistent claims in the lead-up to the budget that the social services minister, Scott Morrison, was outperforming Hockey in promoting the government’s economic message, the poll found the treasurer was seen as narrowly ahead of his cabinet colleague in the sales job.
Respondents were forced to choose between Hockey, Morrison and Tony Abbott when asked who had done the best job promoting the federal budget.
Hockey, with 44.8% support, had an edge over Morrison who was favoured by 43.4% of respondents. Just 11.7% nominated Abbott.
The poll, which has a stated margin of error of 1.7%, showed a slight improvement in the Liberal-National Coalition’s electoral standing since April, but the government would still be on track for a loss if an election were held now.
Labor had a lead over the Coalition of 53% to 47% based on preference flows from the 2013 election, down from 54% to 46% last month.
When asked who would make a better prime minister, 43% selected Abbott whereas 57% opted for the Labor leader, Bill Shorten.
