Turnbull hits new high in latest poll

The popularity sugar-hit from last week’s Liberal leadership spill has continued to boost the polls in the Coalition’s favour.

According to Newspoll in The Australian newspaper today, the Coalition now has an election-winning lead over Labor, 51 per cent to 49 per cent, after preferences.

JP Morgan chief economist Stephen Walters believes the positive response to the leadership in the first opinion polls should also be reflected in consumer and business sentiment in the near term.

VICTORIA wants the new public transport-using prime minister to prise open Tony Abbott’s so-called locked box of infrastructure funding, but it’s not clear if the state Liberals share Malcolm Turnbull’s enthusiasm.

Mr Turnbull is beating Mr Shorten as preferred Prime Minister by 55 per cent to 21 per cent, which is an 18-point improvement over Mr Abbott’s last rating by Mr Turnbull, and a 20-point fall for Mr Shorten.

Mr Turnbull’s approval rating is the highest for any prime minister since Julia Gillard was installed as Labor leader in July 2010.

The shift has also added 11 points to the Coalition’s primary vote at the expense of both Labor and the Greens, suggesting Turnbull has appeal across the political spectrum that his predecessor Tony Abbott lacked.

“Of course, though, I would have liked to have been the one who replaced Tony Abbott because whoever did that was going to get a boost in the polls, as they say”.

And Mr Shorten struggled to identify any weaknesses in the new Prime Minister during his appearance on the ABC’s Q&A program.