Yesterday’s Essential Report had the primaries running 52/32 for a two party preferred of 62/48 62/38 – all unchanged from last week.

On the other questions, party issue performance, the ETS, early elections and Costello all get a run with a sample size of 1116.

Thinking about the Federal Government, which political party does a better job when it comes to:

Thinking about the Government’s proposed emissions trading scheme (called the carbon pollution reduction scheme) to address climate change by which the Government aims to reduce emissions by 5-15% by 2020 – do you think the Government should:

On the cross-tabs Essential says:

40% of Labor voters think the Government should keep the target set, while 37% of Labor voters think the Government should strengthen the
scheme by increasing the target. Coalition voters are more likely to support the introduction of the emissions trading scheme than think that the
scheme should be abandoned or delayed (48% v 40%).

Coalition voters were more likely to think the Government should abandon the emissions trading scheme (22%). 72% of Green voters think the
Government should strengthen the scheme by increasing the target.

Respondents aged 18 – 24 were more likely to think the Government should strengthen the emissions trading scheme by setting a higher reduction target (48%) while respondents aged 50 years and over were more likely to think the Government should abandon the scheme (19%).

In the current economic climate, do you approve or disapprove of Governments, State or Federal, calling early elections?

On the cross-tabs Essential reports:

Coalition voters were more likely than Labor voters to disapprove of Governments, State or Federal calling early elections (50% v 40%).

Do you think Peter Costello should:

On the cross-tabs:

Labor voters were more likely to think Peter Costello should resign from Parliament (44%).
Coalition voters were more likely to think Peter Costello should challenge the leadership of the Liberal Party (26%) or take on a senior position such as shadow Treasurer (24%). 20% of Coalition voters think Peter Costello should stay in Parliament on the backbench as long as he wants and 18% think that he should resign from the Parliament.