Opposition leader Sussan Ley’s approval rating has slipped in the latest national poll, a result that is expected to put pressure on her leadership amid instability within the Liberal Party.
In the latest Resolve Political Monitor, published by Nine papers, Ley experienced a 14 percentage point fall in voters’ opinion on her performance. The figure fell from +9 to -5 in one month.
According to the poll, 33 per cent of Australians rated Ley’s performance as ‘good’ or ‘very good’, a drop of 8 per cent compared to the previous month. Meanwhile, 38 per cent rated Ley’s performance as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
Since the May election where the Liberal Party experienced a catastrophic defeat, Ley has been tasked with holding what’s left together and forging a path forward.
The party is yet to release any official policy positions and has been caught up in a number of headline-making issues including the sacking of Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price from the frontbench, as well as the recent resigning of Andrew Hastie from the frontbench.
The party is grappling with differences in opinion on major issues like immigration, energy policy, and whether to support Australia’s net zero emissions target.
Nampijinpa Price made headlines for her inflammatory comments about Indian immigrants and her subsequent refusal to endorse Ley’s leadership.
Meanwhile, there’s been a lot of attention on Hastie’s leadership ambitions. Hastie doesn’t support a net zero target and has made clear his views on reducing immigration. Now on the backbench, Hastie will have the freedom to advocate for any policy position he wants.
There’s also another problem for Ley. Public support for One Nation has more than doubled since the election in May. Support for the minor party now sits at 14 per cent, according to a recent poll.
It means the Liberal Party risks isolating not just younger voters who are leaning towards Labor and the Greens, but also voters who are shifting to the right on issues like immigration and energy.
Labor still holds a strong lead in two-party preferred vote at 55-45, according to the Resolve poll.
Albanese has a considerable lead over Ley as preferred prime minister. His lead increased by five percentage points over the past month.
It was never going to be an easy road for Ley, who was elevated to Liberal Party leader at time of party devastation. She’s previously written for Women’s Agenda about why she doesn’t buy into the ‘glass cliff’ narrative that followed her leadership rise.