Polls

Newspoll: 51 to 49 per cent, Essential Research: 54-46 to Coalition The first Newspoll survey for the new year, conducted exclusively for The Australian at the weekend, shows Labor’s primary vote rose six percentage points to 38 per cent compared to the last poll in early December.  The Coalition’s primary vote fell 2 points. 6 points – wow! The shift comes as Ms Gillard vows to press ahead with school funding and disability insurance reforms, both costing billions of dollars, after Wayne Swan dropped Labor’s promise to deliver a budget surplus this year. I wonder whether the fact that these reforms plus others are unfunded will eventually seep through into the voters minds.  Gillard’s greatest diversionary tactic at the moment is to announce a wonderful progressive reform and then tell the states that they have to fund it. Even if it does seem to be working at the moment, empty promises only go so far before people start asking for results.