Poor Lib poll due to “disenchanted” voters: Marshall
Opposition leader Steven Marshall: voters are disenchanted with state politics. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily
Opposition leader Steven Marshall says the Liberal Party’s latest poor poll figures are due to the public’s disenchantment with state politics.
A Newspoll published by The Australian today shows Jay Weatherill’s Labor Government has increased its two-party preferred lead over the Liberals since the previous poll was taken in the final quarter of last year.
The poll, taken from January to March, shows Labor leads the Liberal 54-46 per cent on a two-party preferred basis. Labor secured 47 per cent of the two-party preferred vote to win Government in 2014.
The Liberal primary vote has plummeted to 33 per cent, compared to 44.8 per cent at the election. Labor’s primary vote is at 36 per cent, just ahead of the 35.8 per cent it achieved at the election. On primary votes, 21 per cent of those polled were undecided.
Weatherill retains a commanding lead over Marshall as preferred Premier – 47 per cent to 31.
Marshall told ABC 891’s breakfast program today that we wasn’t happy with the poll, however, “people are I think disenchanted with State Government at the moment, or state politics – at the moment.”
He said that while the Liberal Party had lost ground on its primary vote, those votes hadn’t moved to Labor.
“It’s just parked,” he said. “I think people are annoyed that we didn’t form government. They gave us their trust at the election, they voted for us in almost record numbers – we didn’t form government.
“Now they don’t know about the vagaries of the South Australian electoral system, and I think they’re annoyed with us and it’s incumbent upon us to work very hard for the next three years to win those votes back.”
Marshall refused to blame the Federal Government for the state party’s polling.
“I’m not blaming anybody: we’ve got to work hard in the state Liberal Party here in South Australia but I think that the federal Coalition have acknowledged this very difficult period for them.”
He said the Abbott Government was “going to have to have a good budget brought down later this year – they’re going to have to sell it hard”.
