Labor on the rocks: 44 to 56

[nero_bolt]

The Coalition will be hoping Labor doesn’t now stampede to Kevin Rudd after tonight’s disastrous Nielsen Poll:

Labor’s support, which had climbed into the mid-30s, has now collapsed, plunging it back towards landslide-losing territory were an election held now.

Its primary vote stands at just 30 per cent, a dip of 5 points since the last survey in December and a mere 4 points above its nadir of 26 per cent in May 2012…

On a two-party-preferred basis, Labor’s support languishes at 45 per cent to 55 per cent for the Coalition, according to voter feedback on the direction of second preferences. 

Based on preference flows from the 2010 election, the two-party split is 44/56 in favour of the Coal...

That’s the measure that counts, of course, but after repeating Labor spin so furiously for a year about the significance of Tony Abbott’s unpopularity, I’m sure we can expect the media to give us another forest of articles about Gillard this time being the truly unpopular one:

Crucially, in terms of Ms Gillard’s command of the Labor leadership, Mr Abbott has overtaken her in the preferred prime minister stakes with his support leaping by 9 percentage points to 49 per cent compared with Ms Gillard on 45 - down 5 points.

The pollster explains:

‘’I think the most likely thing is that the combined effect of Craig Thomson and Eddie Obeid created an atmosphere of crisis,’’ says Nielsen’s John Stirton.

And while Labor lost its opportunity, Tony Abbott took his. ‘’I think the results probably reflect Abbott’s change of approach,’’ becoming less aggressive and more positive, says Stirton. ‘’There have been far fewer shots of him on the evening news in his shrill, hectoring mode. He’s been more moderate and bipartisan – it took him a long time to learn, but the voters rather like that.’’

Unmentioned is that Gillard has proved catastrophically bad.

That election announcement. Those resignations just afterwards. That budget blowout. That mining tax. That broken promise of a surplus. Those boats. That shrillness. That.... 

http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/andrewbolt/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/rudderless_labor_on_the_rocks_44_to_56/

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/pms-poll-pain-abbott-and-rudd-more-popular-20130217-2elb7.html#ixzz2L9lfn0O4

[donnashuggy]

I guess Mark Kenny isn't biased. fgs

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/columnists/mark-kenny

[nero_bolt]

Simon Crean admits opinion poll blow to Julia Gillard is a 'wake-up call'

CABINET minister Simon Crean says a new opinion poll showing Tony Abbott ahead of Julia Gillard as preferred prime minister is a "wake-up call" for the party.

Less than a week after he dined with Kevin Rudd and his key caucus supporters, Mr Crean declared today's Nielsen poll could not be ignored.

“It's a wake-up call isn't it? You can't gild the lily,” he told radio station 2UE.

Mr Crean said the result reflected damaging coverage of Labor's “internals”, and the plight of the party in NSW.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the government was paying the price for MPs not focusing on policy.

“There's a lot of backgrounding,a lot of careless chatter going on,” Senator Conroy told reporters in Tasmania.

“If we spend our time talking about ourselves ... we will ultimately end up paying the price in the polls as we have done today.”

Their assessments were in contrast to that of Julia Gillard and her key union backer, Paul Howes.

Ms Gillard shrugged off the result, saying she was focused on being Prime Minister.

“If I spent time worrying about them and commentating on opinion polls then I wouldn't have the time to get my job done,” she told the Seven Network.

Mr Howes, the self-confessed “faceless man”, said he regretted his past obsession with opinion polls.

“I regret that I was one of the people that used to engage in this constant useless chatter on various opinion and chat shows around the country,' he told Sky News.

“I am sick of it, I am not doing it any more.”

Labor's two-party preferred vote in the Nielsen poll trails the Coalition's 44 per cent to 56 per cent - a result which mirrors last week's Newspoll.

More here-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/julia-gillard-pm-to-let-opinion-poll-blow-wash-through/story-fn59niix-1226580102921 

[newstart2380]

But according to both parties " we don't take any notice of opinion polls" like hell they don't as I am sure the first morning coffee is swallowed looking at the opinion polls.

[nero_bolt]

Joe Hilderbrand's 10 reasons to cryogenically freeze Kevin Rudd

WHILE Kevin Rudd said he wanted the leadership debate "frozen cryogenically", Joe Hilderbrand debated why the ex-PM should be frozen.

1: Cryonics was recently recognised as the official science of choice for evil geniuses.

2: If Rudd is locked in a freezer there is less chance of him popping up on television every time the Prime Minister leaves the country.

3: Unlike other unlucky cryonic subjects Kevin Rudd has already had the plug pulled on him.

4: It is likely to be several decades before the ALP finally gets a positive poll result.

5: Cryonics is widely considered to be bogus quackery but at least has more scientific credibility than the Coalition's climate action plan.

6: Rudd would be stuck in temperatures of minus 150C but it would still be warmer than the reception he gets in caucus.

7: Walt Disney was said to have been cryogenically frozen (like the economy) but in fact he was dead, buried and cremated (like WorkChoices).

8: Being rendered unconscious in a cold dark place is pretty much the same as living in Canberra.

9: The whole point of cryonics is that the subject is later resurrected.

10: It's revenue neutral.