Politics

The silence of the polls

By | | comments |

Bob Ellis questions the absence of opinion polls reporting Bill Shorten's newfound success and PM Malcolm Turnbull's rapidly declining popularity. 

A SILENCE HAS fallen over the events of last week  and it is the silence of the polls.

No poll has put Shorten ahead, which is where he is. But where is the Ipsos? The Essential? The Newspoll?

Where, moreover, is the approval rating of the Treasurer? Of the Minister for Immigration? Of Bishop as Foreign Minister versus Plibersek or Carr? Of Joyce as Member for New England versus Tony Windsor, who will take the seat from him?

Newspoll will do one its "paradoxical" wheezes next, I reckon. Paradoxically, the swing is to Turnbull, Newspoll will claim. It always does that. Counter-intuitively. Unexpectedly. Surprise, surprise.

The facts, however, are exact and immoveable. Morrison has no credibility as a manager of money or an advocate of self-sacrifice. O”Dwyer is a joke. Turnbull says cheaper housing for young Australians would be a national catastrophe. He mistakes a home-craving nation for a hungry swarm of real estate speculators moved only by money. Bishop is threatening war with China. Pyne is up to his neck in what Brough and Ashby did, illegally, to Slipper. Dutton continues to torment children and pregnant raped women here and overseas.

And the polls will continue to put Turnbull ahead of Shorten — and show two million people who don’t want him as Prime Minister voting for him.

Soon now, one or other of them will print the truth and put Labor ahead.

I wonder which one it will be.

Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License

Monthly Donation

$

Single Donation

$

Support independent journalism. Subscribe to IA for just $5.

 

 
Recent articles by Bob Ellis
On turning forty

On Friday 20 May 2016, the Sydney Writers' Festival is holding a special tribute to ...  
Desperate times for Australian literary legend Bob Ellis

As Bob Ellis continues his battle with cancer, his daily diary, Table Talk, cont ...  
The old Fairfax #Ipsos poll trick

Despite all the scandal, division, discontent and negative publicity, a Fairfax- ...  
Join the conversation
comments powered by Disqus

Support Fearless Journalism

If you got something from this article, please consider making a one-off donation to support fearless journalism.

Single Donation

$

Support IAIndependent Australia

Subscribe to IA and investigate Australia today.

Close Subscribe Donate