Voter support for Aus PM falls to 18-month low

A new survey has revealed that voter support for Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has fallen to an 18-month low, the lowest level since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the latest Newspoll survey released on Sunday night, the proportion of voters satisfied with Morrison's performance has fallen three points since late August to 46 per cent, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

It coincides with a rise in the number of voters dissatisfied with Morrison to 50 per cent, giving him a net satisfaction rating of negative four.

It is Morrison's lowest net rating since March 2020 and marks a major fall from a positive-34 rating in September 2020.

In August, 50 per cent of Newspoll respondents chose the incumbent Morrison as their preferred Prime Minister compared to 34 per cent for opposition Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese.

The gap between the two shrunk to 12 points in the latest poll, with 47 per cent preferring Morrison and 35 per cent Albanese.


Albanese's Labor leads Morrison's Coalition 53-47 on a two-party preferred basis, marking five consecutive Newspolls where the opposition party has held the ascendancy.

The poll was taken at a time when about half of the Australian population was in lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19.

As of Monday, there has been a total of 85,629 confirmed coronavirus cases in Australia, while the death toll stood at 1,162 - IANS