The polls: part two
I really don’t like it when the media fails to report the full range of data available from the polling companies.
Yesterday, an unreported yet interesting factoid was that primary votes were leaving the Labor Party, not so much for the Greens as I suspected, but for the other minor parties and (more particularly according to ACNielsen) the independents. Because this is such a catch-all category, it is difficult to know where these votes would go in a real election.
Combined with the growth in independent voting, another interesting factoid is that, with Newspoll at least, Howard’s satisfaction rating is in decline and his dissatisfaction rating is growing. Indeed, since April there appears to have been a growing disenchantment with both leaders, and by inference, both parties.
Unlike the above, all of which are longer term trends that cannot be attributed to Latham’s Diaries, the aggregated monthly polls show a sharp decline in Labor’s primary vote in September. It is ironic, last time they were this low Mark Latham was the leader.
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