Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s Labor party slumped again behind Tony Abbott’s Liberal-National coalition in an opinion poll that indicates a change of government in the Sept. 14 election.
Labor fell 2 percentage points to 42 percent on a two-party preferred basis, while the opposition gained 2 points to 58 percent, according to a Newspoll published in the Australian newspaper today. Gillard’s satisfaction rating dropped 3 points to 28 percent.
Gillard’s bid to woo voters disaffected by internal party infighting and policy reversals by announcing increased education and health funding has failed to boost Labor’s ratings. With signs of a slowdown in the world’s 12th-largest economy, including worsening employment prospects and waning of the mining boom, momentum is with Abbott’s conservative coalition, which hasn’t ruled since 2007.
“When elections get closer Australian opinion polls usually become tighter, but that isn’t happening now, which suggests voters have totally turned off this government,” said Zareh Ghazarian, a lecturer in politics at Monash University in Melbourne. “While these figures probably won’t be replicated in the election it’s still hard to see anything but a wipe out.”
Labor fell 2 percentage points to 42 percent on a two-party preferred basis, while the opposition gained 2 points to 58 percent, according to a Newspoll published in the Australian newspaper today. Gillard’s satisfaction rating dropped 3 points to 28 percent.
Gillard’s bid to woo voters disaffected by internal party infighting and policy reversals by announcing increased education and health funding has failed to boost Labor’s ratings. With signs of a slowdown in the world’s 12th-largest economy, including worsening employment prospects and waning of the mining boom, momentum is with Abbott’s conservative coalition, which hasn’t ruled since 2007.
“When elections get closer Australian opinion polls usually become tighter, but that isn’t happening now, which suggests voters have totally turned off this government,” said Zareh Ghazarian, a lecturer in politics at Monash University in Melbourne. “While these figures probably won’t be replicated in the election it’s still hard to see anything but a wipe out.”
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