The Poll Bludger » Mike Rann

Newspoll: 56-44 to Labor in South Australia

William Bowe — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:46:04 +0000

I’ve been umm-ing and ah-ing over whether to give this its own thread, as Newspoll have for some reason been sitting on it for the better part of two months. It first appeared in Newspoll’s results archive the other day, has only now been the subject of a normal Newspoll release, and I gather it’s only been reported in the local edition of The Australian. The survey period was January to March, so it does not cover the aftermath of Opposition Leader Martin Hamilton-Smith’s claims of secret donations to Labor from the Church of Scientology using what proved to be forged evidence. It will be fascinating to see how this plays out when we do get an up-to-date poll, because Mike Rann’s pursuit of defamation action against Hamilton-Smith after multiple grovelling apologies had me thinking he was over-playing his hand.

Anyway, what we have is Labor’s lead on 56-44, up from 54-46 in the previous quarter. Labor’s primary vote is up three points to 42 per cent while the Liberals are down one to 34 per cent. The Greens are down three to 10 per cent. Mike Rann’s approval rating is up a healthy seven points to 51 per cent, and his disapproval is down two to 37 per cent. Martin Hamilton Smith was evidently in trouble even before the Scientology allegations, his approval down four to 43 per cent and his disapproval up eight to 34 per cent. Rann’s lead as preferred premier is up from 50-26 to 53-24.

Newspoll: 54-46 to Labor in SA

William Bowe — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:04:03 +0000

Mike Rann’s South Australian government has joined in on the end-of-year Newspoll fun, bouncing back in the latest quarterly survey to the 54-46 lead it enjoyed in April-June before slumping to 50-50 in July-September. However, it owes the recovery to preferences from the Greens, who have soared five points to 13 per cent directly at the expense of the Liberals, who have slumped to 35 per cent (UPDATE: Hair-splitters in comments resent the implication that Liberal votes have gone to the Greens. This is obviously not so). Labor’s primary vote is up one to 39 per cent. Rann’s approval rating is up three points to 44 per cent, while his disapproval is down six to 39 per cent. Liberal leader Martin Hamilton-Smith’s ratings are 43 per cent (steady) and 26 per cent (down five), but he is down four points as preferred premier to 26 per cent, with Rann up two to 50 per cent.

UPDATE: The following charts track Labor’s two-party vote and the various leaders’ approval ratings since the federal election. Western Australia has been excluded partly due to incomplete data, but mostly because of the complication of the change of government.

As I’ve noted previously, federal Labor’s vote has very closely tracked Kevin Rudd’s approval rating except since Malcolm Turnbull became Liberal leader, since which time it has increased less sharply (the most recent poll notwithstanding). This can be chalked up as a win of sorts for Turnbull. The other thing the data strongly suggests is that the end-of-year boom in the federal government’s popularity has pulled up the various state governments, whose improved performances bear no relation to their leaders’ approval ratings. I would infer from this that the governments in question shouldn’t get too comfortable.

Newspoll: 50-50 in South Australia

William Bowe — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:09:34 +0000

Newspoll today brings more evidence that Labor’s moment in the sun at state level is passing, with Labor and Liberal in a two-party preferred dead heat in South Australia. The Liberals are in the lead on the primary vote for the first time since the election of the Rann government in February 2002, with 40 per cent to Labor’s 38 per cent. The previous quarterly Newspoll survey from April to June had Labor leading 41 per cent to 35 per cent on the primary vote and 54-46 on two-party preferred. Mike Rann’s approval rating has plunged 10 points to 41 per cent while his disapproval is up nine points to 45 per cent, on both counts his worst results as Premier. However, Liberal leader Martin Hamilton-Smith’s approval rating is also down four points to 43 per cent, while Rann maintains a 48 per cent (down six points) to 30 per cent (up three points) lead as preferred premier

Advertiser poll: 51-49 to Labor in SA

William Bowe — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:35:04 +0000

The Adelaide Advertiser has published a small-sample (365) poll of state voting intention which gives Labor a 51-49 lead on two-party preferred. Primary votes are 39 per cent for Labor and 43 per cent for Liberal after distribution of informal and undecided. The paper’s previous state poll in February had 476 respondents, and showed Labor leading 57-43. Respondents were also asked how the current leaders compare with Alexander Downer, which takes the idea of his entry into state politics a little more seriously than I would have. The Advertiser blotted its polling copybook with this dubious effort in early August, but its long-term record isn’t so bad (although it usually uses larger samples). The polling is conducted in-house, I believe by its classified advertising staff.