Poll of Australian gov't continues to slump in wake of bushfire crisis

Source: Xinhua| 2020-02-03 18:27:56|Editor: xuxin
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CANBERRA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has fallen further behind the Opposition in the nation's foremost opinion poll, according to the latest Newspoll published by the Australian on Sunday night,

The governing Coalition trails the Labor Party 48-52 on a two-party preferred basis with voters disappointed by the government's response to the bushfire crisis.

It marks a significant turnaround from December, before the worst of the bushfires, when the Coalition led Labor 52-48.

On Tuesday, the parliament will resume for 2020 under pressure to take greater action on climate change with Prime Minister (PM) Scott Morrison, whose personal approval rating has tumbled in 2020, according to Newspoll.

It found that his net satisfaction, which is calculated by subtracting the portion of voters dissatisfied with performance from those satisfied, is negative 22 compared to positive 15 in July 2019 and negative three in December.

By comparison, that of Labor leader Anthony Albanese was 25 points better at positive three.

Albanese's lead as Australia's preferred PM has grown to five points, a dramatic turnaround from Morrison's 14-point lead in December.

In addition to the bushfires, Morrison's government has been hurt by an ongoing sports grants saga, over which Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie resigned on Sunday.

Focus group polling published by market research firm Ipsos on Monday revealed that the voters from all political persuasions are critical of Morrison's response to the bushfires, according to the Australian Financial Review.

It found that in the voters' eyes Morrison's leadership during the crisis compared poorly to that of Daniel Andrews and Gladys Berejiklian, the Premiers of Victoria and New South Wales (NSW) respectively.

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