Politics

Poll reveals Malcolm Turnbull is Australia’s preferred prime minister

Jun 25, 2018

The latest Newspoll results named Turnbull as the preferred choice for PM over Labor's Bill Shorten.

Malcolm Turnbull remains Australia’s preferred prime minister, but the coalition continues to trail behind labor, a new poll has revealed.

A Fairfax/Ipsos poll, obtained by 9News, shows Turnbull, who took over as leader of the Liberal Party in 2015, is seen as the “better” choice to lead Australia — 55 per cent of participants list Turnbull as preferred PM, compared to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s 33 per cent.

Shorten may not be the number one choice to take the top job, but he has maintained his hold in the election contest.

While Turnbull might have the favour of Aussie voters when it comes to economic policy – a 67 percent vote favour compared to Shorten’s 48 per cent — the coalition continues to lag behind Labor on a two-party preferred basis, 47 per cent to 53.

Turnbull outscored Shorten on nine categories, including economic management, vision, strength as a leader and foreign policy. But Shorten outdid him on social policy and the confidence of his party.

Sixty-seven percent of voters said they believed Turnbull was a competent leader, while Shorten received a vote of 53 percent. However, on the question of which leader has the confidence of their party, 65 percent of voters have named Shorten – while Turnbull on the other hand received just 55.

The survey, which was conducted from June 20-23, involved 1200 respondents.

An earlier Newspoll conducted by The Australian last month revealed that, while the Labor party is ahead of the coalition, many voters would like to see Anthony Albanese take over the top job from Mr Shorten. The findings revealed that Shorten is the least popular opposition leader of all time, with 26 per cent of voters pledging their support for Albanese, compared to 23 per cent in favour of Labor’s current leader.