Labor Overtakes Coalition In Australia

[struggle4progress]

(Angus Reid Consultants - CPOD Global Scan) – The Australian Labor Party (ALP) is now the most popular political organization in the country, according to a poll by Roy Morgan International. 43 per cent of respondents would vote for the opposition ALP in the next election to the House of Representatives, while 42 per cent would support the governing coalition of Liberals and Nationals. <snip>

What party would you vote for in the next election to the House of Representatives?

Mar. 2005 Feb. 2005

Australian Labor Party 43% 38.5%
Coalition (Liberal / National) 42% 46%
Australian Greens 7% 7.5%
Family First 2.5% 1%
Australian Democrats 1.5% 2%
One Nation 1% 0.5%
Independents / Others 3% 4.5%

Two-Party Preferred Vote

Mar. 2005 Feb. 2005

Australian Labor Party 52.5% 48%
Coalition (Liberal / National) 47.5% 52%

Source: Roy Morgan International
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews to 1,015 Australian voters, conducted on Mar. 5 and Mar. 6, 2005. No margin of error was provided.

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewItem&itemID=6376

[Matilda]

1. It's still the "honeymoon" phase for Beazley,

so the figures aren't likely to stabilise at this stage.

That said, Howard's been stumbling lately, making some bad decisions,
so if Beazley can keep attacking, even the rightwing nuts might
start to question "honest John" and where he's taking us.

[Djinn]

2. not much to be excited about

we've got three years of Lib control of both houses before anyone gets a go at voting again. By then we'll quite probably have lost the industrial protections we've all taken for granted for so long, the union movement will be significantly weakened, more "free trade" agreements will be struck, more environmental damage will be wrought - none of that will be reversible.

Even were the election next week the ways in which a Beazley Labor government would be different to a Howard Coalition one are minimal at best, if Costello takes over then they'd be almost identical.

[sonicx]

3. new poll has wackjobs back ahead...

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewItem&itemID=6402

[Ken Burch]

4. That second poll showed a three point swing

from Labor to the Greens in a week. Anyone have an explanation for that?