When you’re at the top, there’s only one way left for you to go — and the earlier you peak, the sooner you’ll start going downhill.
This was the brutal lesson of the Kevin Rudd prime ministership. “Kevin07” went roaring straight to the top of the opinion polls, with numbers that make the cult of personality around Jacinda Ardern look sober by comparison. Of course it couldn’t last — and as soon as Rudd inevitably starting sliding in the polls, his days were numbered.
Jacinda Ardern was unbelievably lucky to have Covid and terrorism intervene in what would otherwise likely have been a pretty brutal bid for re-election. Barring a war with China Anthony Albanese is unlikely to have any similar divine intervention to stop his slide from a peak that was modest even compared to Ardern’s, let alone Rudd’s.
Anthony Albanese’s commanding lead over Peter Dutton as preferred prime minister has fallen despite popular support for the Labor government lifting to a post-election high.
Support for independents and minor parties – including the Teal independents – has also fallen sharply and is now down almost five points since the election.
Australian voters who married in haste to anyone who wasn’t Scott Morrison are having the biggest case of buyer’s remorse since Trump Derangement Syndrome delivered the White House to Joe Biden.
An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian following last Tuesday’s budget, shows Labor’s primary vote lifting a point to 38 per cent […] the Coalition, however, has also gained ground, lifting four points since the last poll to reach 35 per cent and regaining all the ground lost since the election.
So, the Coalition’s primary vote is higher than the numbers that put Albanese into office — and Labor’s primary vote remains historically low. More ominous for Labor, though, is the personal slide for Albanese.
The largest movement in the latest poll numbers, however, has been a seven-point fall in Mr Albanese’s rating as the better prime minister and a corresponding five-point gain for Liberal leader Mr Dutton – with the gap narrowing from a 39-point lead for Mr Albanese to a 27-point lead.
Taking on the Opposition Leader’s job after an electoral defeat is one of the most thankless jobs in politics. It’s a poison chalice of humiliation where low poll numbers are part of the territory. Dutton is doing a solid, if so far un-spectacular job. Most notably, he’s mostly avoiding the Morrison-era mistake of playing catch-up to the latest brain-farts from the far left.
How that plays out long-term remains to be seen, but the leader who should be sleeping least easy is Albanese. The poll drop is almost certainly just the beginning as the reality of a Labor government bites.
Independent senator Jacqui Lambie says the Albanese government will be defined by its response to the cost-of-living crisis, and has called for swift action to halt the surge in power prices.
Senator Lambie is concerned Australians will face a “heat or eat” plight if the government does not move quickly to respond.
The Australian
Australians are in for a brutal awakening to the reality of electing a government whose key finance and energy portfolios are all run by Arts graduates who’ve never held a job outside politics.
Almost half of all Australian voters believe they will be worse off over the next 12 months following Labor’s first budget, with the number of people who believe it will be good for the economy at the lowest levels on record.
An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows that Jim Chalmers’ budget last Tuesday was the most poorly received for helping the household budget since the Coalition’s 2014 failed austerity drive.
Abbott’s Coalition government in 2014 thought, like Albanese in 2022, that packing all the bad stuff into their first budget would mean that voters would forget by the next election.
They didn’t — and the Coalition was lucky to survive in 2016, mostly thanks to the buffer created by Abbott’s landslide 2013 win.
Albanese, with the second-lowest primary vote on record, has no such buffer to shield his government from an angry electorate.
Labor are cementing their reputation as woeful economic managers. All the welfare sweeteners in the world can’t distract from the face that Albanese has not only broken his signature campaign promise of cutting electricity bills, he’s dancing on the pieces.
Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers have defended the budget […] however, this has been overshadowed since the release of the budget by the grim outlook for the economy and inflation and the energy crisis that will inflict a 56 per cent increase to electricity bills over the next two years.
The Australian
It confirms the view among most voters that the Labor government so far has no answers to the problem.
It has failed the principal political test that when you tell people there is a problem, you better tell them in the same breath that you have a plan to deal with it.
The Australian
Albanese repeatedly told voters ahead of the election that he had a “plan” to fix the cost-of-living crisis.
It turns out that that was just another campaign lie.
