Australian gov't trails opposition in 14th straight public opinion poll

Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-19 09:18:06|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao
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CANBERRA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Australia's coalition government, led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, has fallen to its 14th straight loss in News Corp's public opinion poll, trailing the Labor opposition 47 percent to 53 percent in the two-party preferred (after preferences) stakes on Monday.

It's the 14th-straight survey, called Newspoll, in which the Liberal National Party (LNP) coalition government has trailed the Labor opposition, and the third-straight survey in which they have trailed by the six point margin.

In the primary vote (before preferences), Labor edged ahead one point to lead the government 37 percent to the coalition's 36 percent, with the far-right One Nation securing 11 percent of the vote, the left-leaning Greens posting a 9 percent share and the independents taking the remaining 7 percent.

Speaking to Sky News on Monday, respected political commentator for The Australian newspaper David Crowe said the results were a wake-up call for the coalition, considering their popularity had not risen despite announcing a widely popular budget in May.

"We've got a situation where the government is on 36 percent primary vote, and it has been stuck there for five straight Newspolls. It's a very dangerous plateau that they've reached, or a slump that they can't seem to get out of regardless of policy," Crowe said.

"We've seen that the primary vote is at the same level as before the May federal budget, before the 'reset', before they got rid of all the 'zombie' spending cuts that people didn't like, before the bank levy. It hasn't made any difference."

The last time the coalition was on level pegging with Labor in the two-party preferred poll was Sept. 12, 2016, while the last time the Turnbull government led in the Newspoll was on July 2, 2016, when it led by half a percentage point.

Also on Monday, Labor MP Ed Husic slammed the reporting of the government's slump through his social media channels, posting to Twitter that the government's woes were being under-reported compared with the troubles of the previous Labor government in 2013.

"Listen up, kids: let me tell you about a time, long ago, when Newspoll results instantly got blazing front page coverage," Husic posted on Monday.

Former coalition Prime Minister Tony Abbott was ousted by Turnbull in 2015 after Abbott lost 30 Newspolls in a row.

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