Politics

Christmas Just Keeps Coming: The Coalition Just Bombed In Another Newspoll

Even their precious baby boomers are unimpressed.

by Sam Langford  27 December 2018
Scott Morrison and the Coalition are struggling in the latest Newspoll

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Well, Christmas just keeps coming — unless you’re Scott Morrison, that is. The last quarterly Newspoll of 2018 is out, and the numbers are truly bloody embarrassing for the government. Let’s dive in.

For starters, the numbers suggest that the Morrison government is failing at what it seems to value most: appealing to older Australians. To put it lightly, baby boomers are not impressed — 45 percent of Australians over 50 years old said they were dissatisfied with ScoMo’s performance, according to an analysis conducted for The Australian.

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Then there’s the Coalition’s primary vote, which is also struggling. Back in the April to June quarter 0f 2018, Labor and the Coalition were neck and neck, with 38 percent of the primary vote each. This Newspoll, which covers the October to December quarter, shows the Coalition holds just 35 percent of the primary vote, while Labor is in the lead at 40 percent.

If you ignore all the minor parties and just take a look at the two-party preferred vote, that puts Labor ten points in the lead for the quarter, with 55 percent of the vote to the Coalition’s 45 percent.

If all the numbers are too much for this holiday season, here’s the takeaway: the Coalition has spent 2018 on a nosedive. Labor, meanwhile, has been on the rise, despite continuing to do extraordinarily stupid things. Then again, just because people are preferring Labor to the Coalition doesn’t mean Labor’s necessarily in a great position — quite a few baby boomers are just turning to smaller parties like One Nation instead.

There are, of course, still some upsides for the Coalition. Scott Morrison remains preferred Prime Minister, with 44 percent of the vote to Shorten’s 35. Most people are dissatisfied with Bill Shorten, though that’s not really news.

In short, this week’s Newspoll is further confirmation that the government’s doing rubbish, and could be in danger of losing quite a few seats at the next election if things don’t improve. Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year — unless you’re Scott Morrison.