Palmer, Hanson, Joyce lead the list of least liked politicians
Sydney Morning Herald
December 27, 2021
Australians have rated mining magnate Clive Palmer as the nation’s least likeable politician in surveys that show he has a net result of minus 51 per cent, more than twice the negative rating for One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.
Mr Palmer, the founder of the United Australia Party, has the lowest personal rating among his federal peers with only 8 per cent of respondents saying they have a positive view of him.
Australia’s least likeable politicians.
Another 59 per cent are negative, while 25 per cent are neutral and 8 per cent do not know of him.
Mr Palmer is closely followed by UAP colleague and party leader Craig Kelly, the former Liberal MP who has a positive rating of only 9 per cent, while 34 per cent of respondents are negative, 23 per cent are neutral and 35 per cent do not know of him.
The exclusive findings are from surveys of more than 1600 respondents each month in recent months, showing consistently low results for Mr Palmer, Mr Kelly, Senator Hanson and their parties.
The Resolve Political Monitor, conducted for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age by research company Resolve Strategic, also confirms strong negative reaction to Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, who has a net rating of minus 29 per cent.
The question in the survey said: “Below is a list of people and organisations that are active in politics and public life. For each, please tell us whether you have heard of them and, if so, whether you have a positive, neutral or negative view of them.”
Asked about the United Australia Party, respondents had a net negative response of minus 37 per cent as a whole, while the figure for One Nation was minus 21 per cent in a survey conducted in late November.
Senator Hanson had a positive rating among 21 per cent of voters while 46 per cent were negative, 27 per cent were neutral and 6 per cent did not know of her. This produced a net rating of minus 25 per cent by subtracting the negative from the positive figure.
The national results have been consistent over several months but do not show local support, a key factor for the Nationals, One Nation and the UAP as they appeal to voters in regional Australia and especially Queensland, a key battleground at the election.
Mr Kelly, who quit the Liberal Party in August and signed up as the only federal MP in Mr Palmer’s party, insisted he was seeing positive results from internal polling about his chances of holding the seat of Hughes in southern Sydney.
“Our polling shows that we’re in with a real chance and a real shot at this, not only in my seat of Hughes but in many seats right around the country,” he said.
Mr Kelly said his criticism of vaccine mandates and restrictions on freedom were resonating with voters, saying there was a “huge resentment” towards Labor and Liberal parties because of state lockdowns by governments of both persuasions.
Asked if he would run for the Senate rather than the lower house because it might give him a better chance at victory, Mr Kelly said he would “stick with Hughes” and contest the seat for the lower house, with an “open chequebook” in campaign funding.
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Senator Hanson failed to get enough support in the Senate last month for a bill to ban vaccine mandates, with only five Coalition Senators backing her move, but her political base in NSW and Queensland remains significant.
One Nation secured three places in the upper house in 2016 – Senator Hanson, her Queensland colleague Malcolm Roberts and NSW senator Brian Burston – but lost the NSW seat at the 2019 election. Senator Hanson faces re-election in 2022, while Senator Roberts’ term expires in 2025.
One Nation gained 438,587 primary votes in lower house contests at the last election, or 3.1 per cent of the national tally. It gained 788,203 primary votes in Senate races.
The UAP received 488,817 votes in the lower house, 3.4 per cent of the national tally, but only 345,199 primary votes in the Senate.
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The Nationals gained 642,233 votes in the lower house in their own right and 1.2 million as part of the Liberal National Party in Queensland, with another 38,837 for the Country Liberals in the Northern Territory.
The survey results highlight a danger for the federal government from the net negative rating for Mr Joyce among voters nationwide, a finding The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age first revealed in July.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has not held a joint press conference with Mr Joyce since the Nationals leader was restored to the position in June, when he won a challenge against predecessor Michael McCormack. Mr McCormack had been leader since February 2018, following Mr Joyce’s resignation after weeks of publicity over his relationship with former adviser Vikki Campion.