Labor voters were the more likely to call for Deeming to be kicked out of parliament,whereas 30 per cent of Coalition supporters believed no action,or less action,should have been taken against her.

Monash University associate professor of politics Paul Strangio said it was notable that among Coalition voters there was a clear preference for no action being taken against Deeming.

“This in itself is a window into the conservative outlook of the Coalition voting base,” Strangio said.

He said a primary vote of just 30 per cent for the Coalition five months on from the election showed “there is still a long uphill battle for John Pesutto and the Liberals to become competitive”.

“The vote for the Liberal Party continues to hover at a level more consistent with a minority party rather than a major party,” he said.

Labor’s 12-point lead is the second-largest advantage it has had over the Coalition in two years of tracking Victorian politics.

Resolve Strategic director Jim Reed said it was an indication the Andrews government was “still operating at the ceiling of post-election support”.

“It’s not unusual for voters to disengage from politics after an election,and I suspect that explains why the Deeming issue did not have marked vote effect. And there’s every indication that the Coalition are bumping along at the floor of their support,so the effect it could have had was limited anyway,” he said.

Premier Daniel Andrews also has a strong lead over Pesutto as preferred premier,but the opposition leader managed to reduce the gap slightly to 22 points,from 24 at the start of the year.

That 22-point advantage is still one of the strongest leads Andrews has had over his various opponents since mid-2021,when he recorded a 26-point advantage over the then Liberal leader,Michael O’Brien.

But the survey was conducted before the release of the latestreport from the Independent Broad-based Anti-corrption Commission,which found the government improperly awarded a Labor-affiliated union a $1.2 million contract to deliver a training program to healthcare workers that was found to be inadequate.

“Andrews is still flying high as preferred premier,but that also means he has further scope to fall if the conga line of IBAC inquiries and other scandals start to bite,” Reed said.

As part of its research,Resolve Strategic also asks respondents to explain why they support either party. The latest survey found voters who preferred Labor were impressed by Andrews’ leadership and Labor’s investment in infrastructure projects.

“There’s lots of investment in infrastructure going on,and I feel that the state is moving,” one respondent said.

Another said:“All the infrastructure happening will help the state in the long term.”

Those supporting the Coalition tended not to be particularly wooed by the Liberal or National parties,but were drawn to the opposition because they disagreed with Andrews’ handling of the pandemic and were angry about the state’s growing debt.

“Andrews has put us in debt for generations. It’s just not sustainable,” one voter said.

The surveys of more than 1600 Victorian voters were conducted in mid-March and mid-April.

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