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Australian Labor Party leads incumbent coalition in opinion poll

Xinhua,December 18, 2017 Adjust font size:

CANBERRA, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) leads the governing Liberal National Party (LNP) 53-47 on a two-party-preferred (TPP) basis, according to the latest Newspoll released on Monday.

If those numbers remained stable the LNP would be wiped out at the 2018 federal election, conceding as many as 13 seats to the ALP in the lower house of parliament.

Newspoll had incumbent Malcolm Turnbull rated the better Prime Minister by 41 percent of respondents compared to 34 percent for ALP leader Bill Shorten.

However, in a worrying sign for Turnbull, 51 percent of the 1,669 voters polled by Newspoll said he was more capable of handling Australia's economy, down from 58 percent in February 2016.

In the same time period, the number of people who nominate Shorten as the best person to lead Australia's economy rose nine percent.

The poll was released after LNP candidate John Alexander won the by-election in the Sydney seat of Bennelong on Saturday, seen by many as a referendum on the Turnbull government.

ALP candidate and former New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally secured a five percent swing towards the ALP but fell short of winning the seat.

Analysis by The Australian reveals that in Bennelong's suburbs of Eastwood and Carlingford, where 34.5 percent and 32 percent of residents respectively are of Chinese ancestry, Labor picked up swings in some booths of 12 percent or more.

If Alexander had lost, the LNP would have been left with 75 seats in the lower house of parliament, one short of the 76-seat majority required to pass legislation.

Despite the loss, Shorten reflected on the swing as a sign of things to come for Labor.

"Kristina may not have won the election tonight, but she and you and the voters of Bennelong have given Labor an election-winning swing at the next election," he said on Saturday night.

"I have no doubt that after the next general election Labor will form a government and something like 24 to 28 government seats will fall and we will make this country a country that's governed in the interests of the middle and working class and not the top end of town." Enditem

 

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