Essential: Senate vote changes a washout, voters back dishlickers

Malcolm Turnbull’s Senate voting reforms made voting more difficult, many voters say. And Julie Bishop is firming as the preferred leader of the Liberal Party, behind a diminished Turnbull, new polling from Essential Research reveals.

After Senate voting changes designed to make voting easier and reduce the role of preference deals failed to reduce the size of ballot papers in many states, 37% of voters say the changes made voting more difficult while 25% said it made no difference. Less than 20% said the changes made voting easier.

However, 20% of voters say they believe the changes made the Senate outcome — the final seat in several states is still to be determined — more democratic, compared to 15% who said the outcome was less democratic (39% said it made no difference).

The Prime Minister’s hitherto-secure position as by far the most preferred Liberal leader has been undermined in the wake of the election. Turnbull is considered the best leader of his party by 30% of voters, down from 39% in March and 42% in December. Sixteen per cent of voters prefer deputy Bishop, up from 12% in March, while Tony Abbott is steady on 9%. “Someone else” has also gained on Turnbull, up three points to 19% since March. Bishop leads Turnbull among Greens voters and “other” voters, while Labor and Liberal voters prefer Turnbull — the latter 50% to 17%.

Labor leader Bill Shorten, on the other hand, has gone from a figure of ambivalence in the eyes of voters to easily the preferred leader of his party. As late as March, just 15% of voters thought he was the best leader of the Labor Party, putting him only narrowly ahead of Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek (both on 14%). Now, 27% of voters prefer Shorten as leader; “someone else” is 17%, Albanese is 11% and Plibersek 12% (interestingly, Plibersek is more popular with men — 14% — than women — 11%).

That shift for Shorten is mainly because of Labor voters — 27% preferred Shorten in March, now 51% do, a point higher than Turnbull’s rating among Liberal voters. As with Bishop, Greens voters preferred Plibersek.

There’s also very strong support for a national greyhound racing ban: 55% of voters support a ban — 28% strongly — while 27% oppose it. Labor (57%), Liberal (51%) and “other” (53%) voters aren’t much different, but 71% of Greens voters support a ban. There’s virtually no difference between NSW and Victorian voters on the subject. And it’s a rise in support for a ban since March 2015, when 48% supported a ban, with the number of “don’t knows” falling from 26% to 19%.

And voters are a little more positive about the economy: while there’s been little change since April in voters’ view (good, 30%, down from 32%; poor, 26%, down from 27%), a third believe it’s headed in the right direction (32% in April) and slightly more in the wrong direction (37% in April) — 27% think it will get better in the next 12 months and 41% believe it will get worse. But that’s much better than in September last year, when just 16% believe it would improve and 59% worsen (the poll was taken before Turnbull replaced Abbott).

On voting intention, the Coalition has lost two points on its primary vote to fall to 39% while Labor remains on 36% and the Greens on 10%. The Nick Xenophon Team sits on 4% (up one point) and “other” on 10%, washing out to an unchanged two-party preferred outcome of 51-49%.