In the latest Newspoll published by The Australian on Monday, the Coalition slipped further behind, to now trail Labor by eight points, 46:54 per cent in two-party preferred terms.
In a polling survey period that was dominated by energy policy and the same-sex marriage debate, the Coalition’s primary vote slipped back one point from 37 to 36 per cent. Labor held its vote steady at 38 per cent, its third consecutive result at that mark.
The survey of 1695 voters showed the Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP has lost ground to the Hon Bill Shorten MP as preferred Prime Minister to now lead by 11 per cent compared with a figure of 17 per cent just three weeks ago. While support for the Prime Minister fell four points, voters only increased their support of the Opposition Leader by two points, suggesting some apathy with the two major parties.
In a sign of the fragmented nature of the body politic in Australia, almost one third of voters gave their primary vote to either the Greens, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, minor parties or said they were “uncommitted”.
