Australian PM surges to election-winning lead: new poll

[struggle4progress]

Prime Minister John Howard's conservative government has surged to an election-winning lead after a spectacular seven-point turnaround in support, according to a new poll which the Labor opposition describes as suspect.

As Australians prepare for an end-of-year election, The Australian's Newspoll showed Howard's Liberal-National coalition with 53 percent of voter support, compared to 47 percent for Labor in a two-way battle.
<snip>

Every other poll published in recent weeks has shown Labor would easily win an election.
<snip>

... the opinion poll also shows Howard is the most popular leader of Bush's coalition of the willing.
<snip>

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/87830/1/.html

[ramblin_dave]

1. Does Australia have electronic voting?

Just wondering.

[qwertyMike]

2. They do have compulsory voting though

[DaveSZ]

4. I know what did it

The homo bashing.

[soaky]

5. no, paper based

haven't heard anything about introducing e-voting at this stage.

[interupt]

14. There was a trial in ACT in 2000

http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,61045,00.html


- It was written in Open Source
- The code was available on the net
- testers could submit their own mods and ideas

[rooboy]

3. Newspoll is equivalent to Fox News/Opinion Dynamics...

it is the poll of choice for the Murdoch media empire. As soon as I heard this bullshit I knew it was going to be a Newspoll poll.

[GregW]

6. I don't believe it

Every poll I have seen has Howard being taken to the cleaners.

[the Kelly Gang]

7. top polsters are saying this cannot be right....I think he's on the

nose especially with the Iraq War.
Howard has told too many lies and Aussies won't stand for that.

[keithyboy]

8. Will there be civil unrest if Howard wins?

I hear from friends that the schism is very deep.

[rooboy]

12. The bastard wouldn't want to walk down my street. n/t

[Teddy_Salad]

9. No, it's all paper ballots in Australia...

and they can have a result by 9:00PM the night of the election.

So why can't that be done here, instead of going to paperless e-voting? :shrug:

[silverpatronus]

10. bill maher said it best...

(paraphrasing) if you miscount or refuse to count money, all hell breaks loose. if you miscount or refuse to count votes...eh.

[canetoad]

11. Kennel down, puppy.....

1. Any poll run by the 'Australian' newspaper is a poll run by Rupert Murdoch

2. Polls, in the leadup to an election, are just another propaganda tool

So don't get excited and start dribbling wee down your front.

[newyawker99]

20. Hi canetoad!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[w4rma]

13. Rupert Murdoch poll. (nt)

[interupt]

15. Hah! yeah go NewsPoll. They dont have an agenda

[axollot]

16. Australians vote for the party not the man..

..so if the liberal party thinks that Lil johnny is a threat to their re - election they will put a new face to head the party into a re - election.

I was still living in Australia (my eldest son 15, still lives there and we are duel citz) when he got voted in, he helped bring about the GST (goods and services tax) I am sure alot of Australians aren't happy with the GST and it isn't the "tax" they thought they supported in the beginning.

Along with Lil Johnny and the rest of the gang following everything the US does - I would say the Labour party looks like a easy vote back in.

Rupert Murdoch is an Australian who owns a good majority of the media in Australia. However, I found the media in Australia so much better than in the US where we rarely get real world news.

[interupt]

17. I wish I had your enthusiasm

The funny thing about the GST is that the tax itself isnt the problem, but the fact we are taxed on everything on top of the GST.

Beazley should have won in 2000 but the Tampa screwed everything up, and the classic Wedge politics worked so well.

Howard is desperate. Hes trying to wedge everything. The Same-sex amendment is testament to that. I just hope Labour can hold the line and start NAMING POLICIES.

You are right about US Media though. I am gobsmacked about the stuff thats on breaking news here and Ive seen it 2 days earlier

[axollot]

21. Your explanation of the GST -

problem is how I should have worded it.

Your right the GST isn't the problem, they never properly dropped the hidden taxes on goods THEN add the GST as promised when the tax was brought in.

I knew that was going to happen and that was the reason I was against its implementation in the first place. Boy did I catch shit from everyone over that.

Yes we were over taxed on everything considered a "luxury" item. However, there were a lot of items on that list I could easily live without. Unfortunately there were even more items that were going to get the GST tacked to it that I could not live without. I saw the writing on the wall with that.

BTW, I have been away from home to long - did the GST ever get added to food or not?

(I am a duel citizen, that is why politics of both the US and Australia are of concern to me)

[Matilda]

18. Those who take an interest in politics generally follow one party

or the other, but there are huge numbers who are uncommitted, and
will vote for whichever party seems to reflect their mood of the
moment, or will promise them what they want (generally a tax cut).

According to Rod Cameron, who runs the country's biggest polling
organisation, only 10% of Australians take an active interest in
politics. I suspect this is fairly accurate, and not very
encouraging. That's why Howard could pull a stunt like Tampa,
which was a disgraceful episode, and be voted in, claiming he then
had a mandate for a GST and the destruction of Medicare, etc. The
truth was, Tampa overshadowed the other really important things in
the sheeple's minds, and he got away with it.

Don't forget that actually the Labor Party generally gets the biggest
single vote, and the Libs have to join with the Nationals to form
government. I guess that's how we so often end up with Labor and
the minor parties controlling the Senate - it's a more accurate
reflection of how the majority usually vote.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

19. think there’s something wrong with this poll…

I can accept that the budget would have given Howard a pre-election boost but I’m not prepared to accept that it is by the margin projected in this opinion poll. I think Newspoll needs to check both the authenticity of the poll and the types of questions they are asking