A new poll suggests deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop is the only politician voters rate.
The Essential poll asked respondents how they rated the performance of various politicians. Tony Abbott’s performance was rated as good by 27% and bad by 49% – leaving him with a net rating of -22. Bill Shorten fared better, 26% bad, 31% good, leaving a net rating of -5.
But Julie Bishop was the standout of the six politicians included, rated good by 47% and bad by only 19% – leaving her with the only positive rating, +28.
Clive Palmer was bottom of the class (9% good, 59% bad, overall rating -50) and both treasurer Joe Hockey and Greens leader Christine Milne fared even worse than Abbott. Hockey’s performance was rated as bad by 22% and good by 46%, a net ranking of -24, and Milne was judged bad by 16% and good by 39%, a net rating of -23.
The poll of 1,778 voters continued the bad news for the Abbott government, which trailed Labor 47% to 53% in two party preferred terms – unchanged from the previous week. Tony Abbott also lagged behind Bill Shorten as preferred prime minister 31% to 36%.
Underlining the generally negative mood, 53% of respondents thought it had been a bad year for Australian politics. Only 9% fewer than thought 2013 had been a bad year when asked last December.
In fact, the respondents thought it had been a bad year for most groups except large companies and corporations (+14) and “you and your family overall” (+3). It was also considered a bad year for small business (-28) and the average Australian (-23).
