The latest Newspoll shows voters supported Bill Shorten’s original decision to scrap the legislated tax cuts for companies with turnover between $10m and $50m, a policy the Labor leader abandoned last Friday.
The results also showed Malcolm Turnbull has lost his 35th consecutive Newspoll as prime minister, with the gap between the Coalition and Labor narrowing slightly again.
The Coalition is trailing Labor by 49 to 51 on a two-party preferred basis, up slightly from 48 to 52 since the last poll on 18 June.
Nine months ago, the gap between the Coalition and Labor was much larger – a full 10 points – at 45 to 55.
The poll has a maximum sampling error of 2.5%.
The poll of 1,609 voters, published in the Australian, was conducted between Thursday and Sunday, covering the period of the Labor leader’s stumble on company tax cuts.
On Tuesday, Shorten pledged to repeal the Turnbull government’s legislated tax cuts for firms earning between $10m and $50m in an off-the-cuff announcement, which triggered a business backlash, internal confusion and Labor MPs speaking at cross purposes. He then reversed his initial decision on Friday.
Some of the voters polled in the Newspoll would have been polled before Shorten reversed his decision.
The poll shows voters still favoured Shorten’s original decision.
They were asked: “Do you support or oppose this plan to take tax cuts away from companies turning over $10m-$50m a year?”
The poll found 52% of voters still supported Shorten’s original plan, with 72% of Labor voters, 64% of Greens voters, and 54% of One Nation wanting to dump tax cuts for businesses with $10m to $50m turnover. Even 35% of Coalition voters liked the idea.
Only 37% of voters opposed the plan, with 21% of Labor voters, 23% of Greens voters, and 38% of One Nation voters not wanting Shorten to dump the tax cuts. 11% of voters were undecided.
The Newspoll shows Shorten’s approval rating has fallen by another point to 32%, matching his equal-lowest level in more than a year, while his dissatisfaction rating increased by 2 points to 57%, giving him a net satisfaction rating of -25%.
Turnbull’s net satisfaction rating is -6%, having improved from -10% in June, and -25% in April.
Net satisfaction of both leaders is negative, but the gap between Turnbull and Shorten is now the largest since the July 2016 election.
