While Labor had a lead of 17 percentage points over the Coalition onthis measure in August,which was the first Resolve Political Monitor since the May election,the gap has shrunk to seven points.
Asked which party and leader is best to manage the cost of living,31 per cent named Labor and 24 per cent named the Coalition,with 33 per cent undecided and 12 per cent saying others were better.
The Resolve Political Monitor surveyed 1611 eligible voters from Wednesday to Sunday,when debate was dominated by budget forecasts for rising energy prices and falling real wages as well as the repatriation of women and children related to former Islamic State fighters.
Because the Resolve Political Monitor asks voters to nominate their primary votes in the same way they would write “1” on the ballot papers for the lower house at the election,there is no undecided category in the results,a key difference from some other surveys. The national findings have a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points.
Asked to name their preferred prime minister,voters chose Albanese over Dutton by 53 to 19 per cent in the latest survey compared to 53 to 18 per cent in the survey in early October and 53 to 19 per cent in the survey in September. TheResolve Political Monitor in August showed the gap was 55 to 17 per cent.
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The consistent findings have been a significant turnaround from the period before the election when Albanese lagged the previous prime minister,Scott Morrison,by 36 to 40 per cent in May and 33 to 39 per cent in April.
Albanese has lost ground on questions about his performance as prime minister but maintains his lead over Dutton on this key question.
Asked about Albanese,57 per cent of voters said he was doing a good job and 28 per cent said he was doing a poor job,resulting in a net performance rating of 29 points. The net result was down from 35 points in early October and 39 points in the August survey.
Asked about Dutton,29 per cent said he was doing a good job and 41 per cent said he was doing a poor job,producing a net rating of minus 12 points,a slight worsening from the result of minus 10 points in early October.
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