Andrew’s support is still strong, but the Liberal leader fidgets: poll

The poll found that opinions were divided on how the overall government had dealt with the Victoria pandemic. Of the 858 Victorians surveyed, 49 percent were satisfied and 40 percent were dissatisfied.

Labor voters were significantly more satisfied with the state government’s response (73 percent were satisfied, compared with 29 percent of coalition voters and 56 percent of Greens voters).

According to the survey, which was carried out from October 19 to 21, people in the regions, women and people who work on JobKeeper or JobSeeker were also more likely to be satisfied.

However, the Victorians were far more critical of the state opposition’s response to the pandemic. Only 16 percent were satisfied and 44 percent were unsatisfied. Even among the coalition voters, only 25 percent were satisfied and 30 percent were dissatisfied.

Mr Andrews’ personal approval has taken a blow in the past few weeks as the hotel quarantine investigation found damn evidence and hospitality and retail press for an earlier reopening.

In a Roy Morgan opinion poll earlier this month, Victorian voters gave the prime minister a 59 percent approval rating, compared with 70 percent in September.

Paul Strangio, associate professor of politics at Monash University, said despite a downward trend in prime ministerial approval, the Ipsos poll showed Andrews continued to enjoy significant support from the Victorian community.

“The Victorians still seem to be looking to him to lead us out of the crisis.”

Dr. Strangio said what was interesting about the survey was its insight into the impact of increasingly harsh attacks by the state opposition on the government’s handling of the pandemic.

“The dire poll for Michael O’Brien suggests that the Victorian community has reacted very negatively to perceived attempts to politicize the crisis and that Mr. O’Brien may be paying the price for appeasing those in his party who are have intended to build muscle the government over the pandemic, “said Dr. Strangio.

“Given that Victoria is on the verge of the withdrawal of restrictions, it will be fascinating to see whether the easing of the crisis will lead Victorians to be more critical of Mr Andrews, or if he will have the honor of exiting the state to clear the way. ”the second wave. ”

Mike Trickett, one of the respondents to the Ipsos poll, said he was a swinging voter who would now vote for Mr Andrews.

Mr Trickett, a 76-year-old retiree from Herne Hill in Geelong, believed the lockdown and measures such as the mandatory wearing of masks had brought the virus under control, although he said they may have had to be implemented sooner.

“I think Dan Andrews is doing a very good job under a lot of pressure from those who want to open the state,” said Trickett.

“I think Michael O’Brien did himself a disservice with his harping and carping and offered absolutely no alternatives. That alone scared me and his liberal colleagues off. ”

Virginia Fricker, a 67-year-old Mount Martha retiree, believed Mr. O’Brien was stuck between a rock and a hard place. “He can’t come out and be critical because everyone will accuse him of being an anti-Vaxxer and a tin foil hat holder, but he doesn’t feel like he can support the Labor government because he’s a liberal. He can’t really say anything. ”

Ms. Fricker disapproved of Mr. Andrews’ performance, although she always voted for the ALP in the lower house in the state elections.

“I don’t like its power,” she said. “If you want people to obey rules, you have to give them rules that they understand and see, that are reasonable.”

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For a long time, the prime minister gave a whip without a carrot, she said.

“Worse, he dumped a large stick while the government messed up hotel quarantine and contact tracing.”

Ms. Fricker said she and her husband seriously wondered if they could ever vote for Labor again. “That could have turned us into two greens.”

The majority of respondents were satisfied with Professor Brett Sutton’s performance as Chief Health Officer. 57 percent agreed and 20 percent disapproved.

Professor Sutton was recently investigated when he first noticed that private security was guarding quarantine hotels and why some quarantine request emails from the hotel were not originally made available.

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The survey found that half of Victorians believed the state government’s hotel quarantine was responsible for the second wave of COVID-19, while 40 percent accused individuals of neglecting the risk and violating regulations. The hotel investigation found that genome sequencing had shown that more than 99 percent of the second wave in Victoria could be linked to returning travelers who had to remain in hotel quarantine.

Jessica Elgood, director of Ipsos, said the split was partisan, with the majority of coalition voters (70 percent) blaming the hotel quarantine program and the majority of Labor voters (61 percent) blaming individuals.

The Ipsos survey data has been weighted to represent the demographic profile of the state. The maximum possible error rate in the sample was plus or minus 3.4 percent.