Neilsen Poll

Primary

ALP 34% ... down 4
Coal 43% ... down 1
Greens 14% ... up 2
Independents 4% ... up 1
Others 4% ... same

2PP

ALP 49% / Coal 51%

Left turns up heat on battling PM



The Labor Party's Left faction has demanded a social and economic policy shift to shore up the government's waning support as a new poll shows the Gillard government has gone backwards since the election and is continuing to lose votes to the Greens.

The Herald/Nielsen poll also shows that the renewed debate about the war in Afghanistan has done nothing to change attitudes, with more people still opposing Australia's involvement.
Advertisement: Story continues below

The poll of 1400 voters, taken from Thursday night to Saturday evening, shows the Coalition leading Labor on a two-party-preferred basis by 51 per cent to 49 per cent, meaning there has been negligible change since the election on August 21 when they tied 50-50. But Labor's primary vote has slipped 4 percentage points since the election to 34 per cent, while support for the Greens has risen 2 points to 14 per cent. Coalition support was virtually unchanged at 43 per cent.

Although Labor has failed to gain traction since the election, Julia Gillard has boosted her lead over Tony Abbott in the personal stakes.

The Prime Minister's personal approval rating has risen 4 points to 54 per cent and her disapproval rating is down 2 points to 39 per cent. Mr Abbott's approval rating is down 1 point to 45 per cent and his disapproval is up 1 point to 50 per cent.

Ms Gillard leads as preferred prime minister by 53 per cent to 39 per cent. The 14-point lead is 3 points higher than on the eve of the election.

The poll came as about 130 members of the national Left met in Canberra yesterday to demand policy shifts, including support for gay marriage, a call for the rank-and file to be given more say in forming policy and running the party, and support for deeper ties with unions.

Sources said the war in Afghanistan was discussed but there was no decision to change policy.

Despite last week's debate in which there was bipartisan support for Australia to stay engaged in Afghanistan for at least another decade, the poll shows 49 per cent oppose Australia's involvement and 45 per cent support it. This is virtually unchanged from March last year when 51 per cent opposed it and 44 per cent were in support. The debate will continue this week in the Senate.

Last week, Mr Abbott told his party room that Labor's failure to improve in the polls showed the government was vulnerable. He told the shadow cabinet the opposition had to be prepared to take government at a week's notice.

The Left meeting demanded the party show resolve on climate change and not squib putting a price on carbon as it did before the election. It also demanded progressive law reforms, which was code for wanting party policy changed to support gay marriage. There was a renewed call for the government to abolish the watchdog, the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

All are Greens policy and a source said if Labor were to restore its primary vote to competitive levels, it needed to win people back from the Greens.

''The party has problems on the Right and the Left. The biggest problem we have on the Left was walking away from climate change,'' he said.

The poll shows the public is split evenly on Labor's renewed plan to put a price on carbon.

A source said Doug Cameron, a convener of the national Left, argued to abolish the requirement for Labor MPs to be bound by caucus solidarity. Different views were a strength, he said.

On economic policy, the Left supported the 2 per cent spending cap the government has imposed to bring the budget back to surplus but did not want a repeat of occurrences in Britain and South Australia where the governments have axed public servants' entitlements to help curb costs.


http://www.smh.com.au/national/left-turns-up-heat-on-battling-pm-20101024-16z8p.html

Ex Dame Pansi wrote on Oct 25^th, 2010 at 5:59am:



Or Labor's factions should split and merge?

I think the Greens should continue as they're going. They are still too young a party to become a major contender, but give it a few years and they probably will be. They need more experience and to be taken seriously by more than 14% of the population.

The Coalition and Labor are getting weaker as more and more promises are broken and their constant lies are uncovered. The worse the major parties look - the better the Greens will appear in comparison. It's a good time for them and hopefully they can keep up the current momentum.

If they merge with Labor - as the Nationals did with the Liberals - they will become insignificant eventually.

They signed an agreement for one term only. It gave the Greens some strength and helped them climb another few rungs on the ladder.

As the Greens will have a majority in the Senate next year - it was the only practical thing for Labor to do, although they may regret it later.

The Greens will attempt to keep Labor honest and if they don't succeed - they will do even better in the 2013 election.

Only the opposition and their supporters are hoping that the current government doesn't run for a full term and as they're a minority at present - their opinions are insignificant.

mantra wrote on Oct 25^th, 2010 at 7:41am:



Well duh!

I think this goes without saying Mantra.

The bit about their hoping the GALP don't make it I mean.

And no, our opinions are far from insignificant.

skippy. wrote on Oct 25^th, 2010 at 7:45am:


P*ss off moron, did you miss the special bus again this morning?

mellie wrote on Oct 25^th, 2010 at 7:45am:


If we all think hard enough - everything can go without saying - especially your propaganda Mel, which is all the coalition are capable of producing these days.