Australian Politics – Newspoll: Budget Flop, Coalition Government Sinks

By Andrew Bolt ~

Where the Liberal Party is mentioned here, this party is the political party from the conservative right side of the political fence, similar in nature and principles as the Republican Party in the U.S. whilst the Labor Party are similar to the Democratic Party.

Malcolm Turnbull dropped Liberal principles to deliver a Labor Budget he hoped would save him in the polls. It hasn’t worked: the Liberals have dropped to 47 per cent to Labor’s 53 in the latest Newspoll.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

Turnbull has just legitimised Labor’s big spending and big taxing. He’s gutted the Liberals for nothing.

The Turnbull government has ­failed to generate a swift reward from its dramatic move to “reset the budget” by using tax hikes to replace divisive spending cuts, with the government losing ground against Labor to trail by 47 per cent to 53 per cent in two-party terms.

In a blow to Malcolm Turnbull’s plan for a political recovery, voters have shifted to Labor and the Greens while voicing concern about budget tax increases, with 45 per cent saying they will be worse off from the budget.

The only consolation from the Budget for the Liberals is actually bad news for our future – and something the Liberals should have fought, not legitimised:

The latest Newspoll … reveals that 54 per cent of voters back the new $8.2 billion increase in the Medicare Levy…

Australians now vote for higher taxes? And Turnbull has just made it harder for the Liberals to ever again make the case for lower taxes instead.

The longer this goes on, the more the Liberals will be destroyed.

UPDATE

Oh, and remember this is actually the second post-Budget poll. A ReachTEL poll last week had the same result: the Liberals on 47 per cent to Labor’s 53, after preferences.

UPDATE 2

The Fairfax IPSOS poll today also has the Liberals on 47 to Labor’s 53, but Fairfax journalists say that’s at least better than the last poll two months ago – and voters actually support higher taxes:

The Turnbull government’s big-spending, higher-taxing second budget has delivered a poll boost to the Coalition’s political fortunes, with a big majority of voters backing its tax on banks and the increase in the Medicare levy.

But Labor still holds a strong 53 per cent to 47 per cent lead in the two-party preferred vote, based on 2016 election preference flows, though it has slipped back from the massive 55 per cent to 45 per cent lead in the March Fairfax Ipsos poll.

Fairfax, being of the Left, rate “fairness” as the crucial question about the Budget. That surely is a mistake, given that Labor Budgets were rated even fairer – and look what happened to Labor, and to the country:

On the crucial question of whether the budget was fair, 42 per cent of voters have given the document a tick, whereas 39 per cent of people said it was not, a net positive result of three percentage points.

In comparison, voters gave the 2014 budget a net score of minus 30 percentage points, the worst result in 21 years of the question being asked. The 2015 budget had a net positive score of 19 percentage points, and the 2016 budget had a net negative score of six percentage points, while the former Labor government’s budget typically enjoyed strong support as being fair overall.

Fairfax’s addiction to the “fairness” mantra explains why it’s thrown by the answer to what in fact is the real question:

In a result that will potentially alarm the government, just 20 per cent of people thought the budget would benefit them personally, whereas 50 per cent of people thought they would be worse off, a result that likely reflects the rise in the Medicare levy, higher university fees and other measures.

UPDATE 3

Fairfax’s Mark Kenny can’t stop promoting Turnbull and blaming Abbott for the failure of his Budget to win over the voters:

… the Coalition has given mainstream voters plenty to appease, if not please… Abbott caused wanton brand damage by breaking freshly made election promises with feckless abandon. Voters remain wary. Some will not forgive. Others will not believe… Since taking over, Malcolm Turnbull has found governing just as difficult, thanks in no small part to the hamfisted way Abbott and Joe Hockey went about it once elected.

Andrew Bolt writes for the Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph, and The Advertiser and runs Australia’s most-read political blog. On week nights he hosts The Bolt Report on Sky News at 7pm and his Macquarie Radio show at 8pm with Steve Price.

Read more excellent articles from Andrew Bolt’s Blog . http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/

Tagged: Andrew Bolt, Australian Budget, Australian Conservative Politics, Australian Economy, Australian Politics, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

Posted in: Australia, Blundering Bureaucrats, Conservatives, Economy, Politics, Power Hungry, Public Opinion