Newspoll: Queensland Labor ahead of LNP as Newman's popularity slides
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Version 0 of 1. Voter support for Queensland's Liberal National party (LNP) has fallen behind Labor for the first time since Campbell Newman stormed to power in 2012, a poll shows. More Queenslanders now back the Labor opposition over Newman's LNP government, a Newspoll published in the Australian shows. The LNP is trailing Labor 49% to 51%, on a two-party preferred basis. It means a swing against the government of almost 14 percentage points since the election just over two years ago. Primary support for the LNP has also plunged from the 49.7% support it received at the March 2012 election to just 32%, including an eight point fall since the previous Newspoll three months ago. Newman's personal popularity is also on the slide, plunging from a peak of 43% in March last year. Now, just a third of voters are satisfied with his performance. And 57% of the poll's 1,135 respondents said they were dissatisfied with his efforts. While the poll has given Labor the edge after preferences, it has also delivered some bad news for the opposition. The personal standing of the Labor leader, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has also gone backwards, down three points to 35%. Her dissatisfaction level has jumped too, by seven points to 37%. In the preferred premier stakes, Newman retains a slender lead over Palaszczuk, 39% to 35%. Monday's results are the fourth successive fall in support for the Newman government in the quarterly Newspolls. The government has been plagued in recent months by controversy over its bikie laws, changes to legislation governing political donations and reforms to the state's corruption watchdog. Most recently it has faced criticism from many senior legal figures over its decision to appoint the chief magistrate, Tim Carmody, as the state's new chief justice of the supreme court, despite him never sitting in it. Palaszczuk said the poll showed voters were fed up with the Newman government's attitude. "It's a culmination of two years of arrogance and being out of touch," the opposition leader told the ABC. "This government has failed to listen to Queenslanders." But the transport minister, Scott Emerson, has played down the poll results, saying the LNP is the only party with a plan for Queensland's future. "We're getting on with the dealing with the debt and deficit left to us by Labor," he told the ABC. "We've been revitalising frontline services. "Labor's only plan is to bring back those MPs that caused the problems in the first place." The poll has a 3% margin of error. |