Labor Surges in Latest Newspoll Survey, PM Gillard Flashes Gains against Coalition’s Tony Abbott
The latest Newspoll numbers delivered wide smiles to the Australia Labor Party, which today was afforded considerable boost on its primary vote, with the weekend survey showing climbs of up to five points in the department.
The surge gave the government 32 per cent, according to The Australian, as against to the Coalition's primary figures of 46 per cent, still representing a wide margin for the Opposition that is touted to take over the national government in 2013.
Analysts, however, noted that Labor's numbers flashed respectable lift on voters' sentiments despite the thankless controversies that were brought over by the Craig Thomson affair, which hounded Australia's political landscape last week.
As expected, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott capitalised on the national discussion by attributing the matter to Prime Minister Julia Gillard's governance both of the ruling party and the federal government.
Reading on the Newspoll data, the Coalition has maintained its reputation as the force to beat on 2013, with the opposition enjoying an 8-point edge at 54 per cent on the two-party preferred basis as against to Labor's 46 per cent, but key Labor members believed that Mr Abbott's tact on the Thomson backfired to his detriment.
For Labor Senator Doug Cameron, the numbers may not yet point to crucial a turnaround for the government but they carry a clear message for Mr Abbott - that "voters are seeing (him as) a person who is not fit to run this country."
"He is just a brawling Opposition Leader," he stressed.
The new Newspoll survey also showed that Labor has been gaining some lost grounds, Mr Cameron told ABC on Monday, adding that "we are heading in the right direction."
Labor indeed, analysts said, collected reputable gains as Newspoll reported that the Liberal headliner, Mr Abbott, saw his personal numbers dipped, with his dissatisfaction now level with that of Ms Gillard's at 60 per cent.
The prime minister, however, now holds the lead as the preferred leader of the nation as voters gave her a four-point bump to 40 per cent while Mr Abbott slumped by three points to settle at 37 per cent.
According to Sabra Lane, political analyst for ABC, Labor's new Newspoll showing highlighted the party's best numbers so far in the current year but noted too that "it'll take a couple more Newspoll results before we're able to say if there is a trend happening here."
The figures that separate Labor and the Coalition, the ABC analyst added, "are within the margin of error," meaning the spectre of defeat next year remains a high possibility for the Gillard government.
But for Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten, the Labor-led government somehow proved that hardwork and positivity will deliver good results and "will always in the long run trump being negative."