Economic issues will be key for this Federal Election

Melbourne, May 25: Who would you vote for?

One who is likeable or; one who is less trust worthy?

Voters consider Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull arrogant but likeable, while opposition leader Bill Shorten is thought to be more caring and in touch with people; but less trustworthy.

According to a Newspoll published in The Australian, Mr Turnbull’s rating had worsened over the past three months on eight out of nine character traits surveyed, while the Labor leader improved his scores across the board.

The poll of 1709 voters found that 51 per cent of voters consider the Prime Minister to be in touch with people, a fall of three percentage points since February, while Mr Shorten scored 60 per cent, a jump of 12 points.

Sixty-five per cent of people agreed that the Labor leader cared for people, compared to 57 per cent who thought that of the Prime Minister.

Six out of 10 people said Mr Turnbull was arrogant, while just 47 per cent said the same of Mr Shorten.

Though Shorten narrowed the gap, voters said the Prime Minister was far more likeable than the Labor leader, by 68 per cent to 57 per cent.

Mr Turnbull was considered more trustworthy, with 56 per cent voters favouring him; while only 49 per cent said the same of Mr Shorten.

While likeability is seemingly counting, economic issues may yet win this election.

According to a research conducted by Roy Morgan Research, economic issues concern 42 per cent Australians in May 2016, in the lead up to the elections.

Up by up 4 per cent since October 2015, 42 per cent of Australians believe Economic Issues are the most important set of problems facing Australia.

This is in comparison to Social and Environmental Issues – with Terrorism & War and Environmental Issues concerning only about 20-25 per cent Australians.

Economic issues will be key in 2016 Federal Election @GaryMorganResearch
Economic issues will be key in 2016 Federal Election @GaryMorganResearch

When asked about the most important problem facing Australia, economic problems and interest rates rated the highest concern at 13 per cent, up by another 2 per cent since 2015.

Unemployment concerns came in close second with unemployment figures at 5.7%, according to the current ABS figure for March 2016. However, Roy Morgan April unemployment rate is at 10.4 per cent – 4.7% higher than the ABS figure.

According to Roy Morgan research, in April 2.322 million Australians (18.1% of the workforce) were either unemployed or under-employed.

Poverty and gap between the rich and poor, foreign ownership and investment and excessive reliance on the mining industry; also featured amongst Australian’s concerns.

Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, said that “Economic Issues are easily the most important set of problems facing Australia … Economic Issues have dominated since early 2011 when Environmental Issues were briefly regarded as the most important problems facing Australia”.

A separate study conducted on voting intentions, showed women heavily favouring the ALP and men slightly in favour of the L-NP with 51 per cent in favour as compared to women giving ALP a 56.5 per cent lead.

The Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention conducted week 2 of May 2016, demonstrated Victoria looking to giving the ALP a lead with 56.5 per cent.

But that will be a small problem for Mr Turnbull, his biggest problem would be convincing younger voters to support the L-NP.

According to the study, the ALP leads easily with electors under 50: 18-24yr olds supporting with 65.5 per cent, 25-34yr olds at 67 per cent and 35-49yr olds giving the ALP 54 per cent compared to 46 per cent for L-NP.

Nidhi Mehta with agencies

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