Politics

Newspoll: Coalition close the gap as Shorten loses votes over tax cuts

Jul 02, 2018

The gap between Labor and the Coalition government has tightened. Source: Getty.

He backed down on his plan to scrap tax cuts for businesses with a turnover of between $10 and $50 million on Friday, but Labor leader Bill Shorten may have done himself a disservice as new figures have shown that his popularity among voters has taken a hit.

According to the latest Newspoll conducted by The Australian, approval for the leader of the opposition has fallen to its equal-lowest level in more than a year after Shorten was last week rolled by his shadow cabinet on Labor’s company tax policy.

The results of the Newspoll show Shorten’s approval rating has dropped by one point to 32, while dissatisfaction with the 51-year-old, who has led the party since 2013, actually increased by two points to 57 per cent giving him an overall net satisfaction rating of -25.

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten succumbed to party pressure and backed down on his plan to scrap company tax cuts for medium-sized businesses last week, just days after the ALP released an advert slamming Malcolm for being “for the top end of town”.

Shorten’s personal attack on the Prime Minister’s wealth also hit a sore note with voters as 55 per cent of those surveyed said they believed it was an unfair move, while more than a third of Labor supports also disapproved of the ad campaign, which Turnbull described as “mean-spirited”.

The results of the Newspoll marked the 35th consecutive loss for Turnbull’s government on a two-party preferred basis, however the Coalition have significantly closed the gap and are now trailing Labor just 51-49.

And while the results still point to a loss for the Liberals at the next election, Turnbull still emerged as the preferred prime minister, gaining 46 per cent of the vote, compared to 31 per cent in favour of Shorten.

The Newspoll also delivered some hard truths for One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, as the majority of supporters admitted to disagreeing with Hanson’s stance on company tax cuts, with 52 per cent of One Nation voters believing that the full company tax cuts should be passed as soon as possible.

A further 20 per cent said the cuts should be introduced according to the 10-year program outlined by the coalition government, revealing that, overall, almost three quarters of One Nation voters disagree with the party leader’s position on the suggested tax cuts, after she revoked on her decision to support the bill.

She told The Australian: “I will not be supporting any further tax cuts for them (businesses with turnover above $50m) while so many big companies have lost the support of the Australian people and no one can tell me how the costs of these tax cuts will be offset by other revenue. I am deeply worried about the economic storm just below the horizon and the high level of debt we carry.”