Least popular leader in decades, Australian Election Study reveals
This included Dutton accusing Albanese of “not being able to lie flat in bed” during the third election debate of the campaign. But only 8 percent of those surveyed for the study believed Dutton had won the debates; this was the lowest success rate in the study’s history.
Report co-author Ian McAllister said his record low popularity was a major factor in the election results.
“In an environment where political leaders are becoming increasingly important electorally, Peter Dutton’s lack of popularity among voters has broken many records,” he said.
Support for the Coalition among women has fallen to record lows. Only 28 percent of women support the Coalition, while 37 percent of men support it. As recently as 2013 there was only a small gender gap among Coalition voters.
While 36 percent of women supported the Albanians, 31 percent of men switched to the Labor Party. Women were much more likely to support the Greens at 18 per cent compared to 8 per cent for men, while 18 per cent of women and 25 per cent of men voted for other parties.
Co-author Sarah Cameron, from Griffith University, said the wide gender gap that emerged over the last decade persisted.
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“The coalition received the lowest vote share from women in history,” he said. “Conversely, Labor receives more votes from women than men. The gender gap in votes for Labor is around half that of the Coalition, at five per cent.”
The Coalition has long held an advantage over Labor as the party is believed to be a better economic manager.
This advantage saw this election end with Labor leading by four points. At the 2016 election, the Coalition was 27 points ahead of Labor on economic management.
The coalition is trying to rebuild its economic reputation, with shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien giving a major speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday to outline the key signals of the opposition’s approach to the budget and the economy.
O’Brien will argue that the budget has become increasingly dependent on income taxes. The budget will only return to a surplus in the middle of the next decade due to a nearly $500 billion increase in personal income taxes.
If the income tax-to-GDP ratio remains at current levels, the budget deficit will increase from 1.5 percent to 2.1 percent.
“The debt will not stabilize, it will continue to grow indefinitely. It is clear that Labor’s plan is to plug its growing deficits by allowing personal income taxes to fall even faster,” he will say.
O’Brien will argue that the budget improvement is solely due to high inflation, record corporate tax revenues and an increase in personal income tax collections.
