Australia’s rural voters have delivered a damning assessment of Bill Shorten’s suitability for the prime ministership, with only four per cent of farmers nationally saying the Labor leader is their preferred prime minister.
Even ousted Liberal leader Tony Abbott and current Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce are more popular picks for the top job than the Opposition leader, with 8pc and 5pc, respectively, of the bush vote.
An exclusive Fairfax Agricultural Media poll of 1060 voters in rural areas has found that 61pc prefer Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister.
Despite attacks on his personal wealth as “Mr Harbourside Mansion” and the “Member for Net Worth”, Mr Turnbull’s lead over Mr Shorten is much bigger among bush voters than in most national polls.
The latest Fairfax-Ipsos poll, reported last weekend in Fairfax’s metropolitan newspapers, has Mr Turnbull as preferred prime minister at 48 pc to Mr Shorten’s 34pc.
While Mr Shorten is falling well short in wooing the country vote, the Fairfax Agricultural Media poll shows Prime Minister Turnbull’s support is strongest in Western Australia, at 68pc to Mr Shorten’s 2pc.
Support for Mr Turnbull slips to 53pc in his home state of NSW, where support for Mr Abbott as PM grows to 12pc and Mr Shorten matches Mr Joyce with 7pc.
Significantly, 13pc of those surveyed nationally said they were undecided or didn’t know who they preferred to run the country.
The percentage of voters still uncommitted part-way through the eight-week election campaign was consistent across NSW/ACT, Victoria/Tasmania, Queensland/NT and WA.
In South Australia, none of the rural voters polled preferred Mr Shorten as PM.
While Mr Turnbull has 66pc support in SA, the Coalition will be concerned by that state’s 11pc of “undecideds”, and the impact of independent Senator Nick Xenophon, who has 5pc of rural voters specifying the leader of the Nick Xenophon Team as their preferred Prime Minister.
Among the other unlikely PM preferences of rural voters, Pauline Hanson has 2pc support in Queensland/NT and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has 2pc nationally, and 3pc in her home state of WA.
Of farm industries surveyed, Mr Turnbull was the clear choice in the cropping sector (64pc to Mr Shorten’s 2pc) and among cattle producers (62pc to 4), sheep (60 to 3) and dairy farmers (60 to 5).
Support for former Liberal Prime Minister Mr Abbott returning as PM is highest among over-65s (at 11pc) and Mr Turnbull is strongest among 55-64s, with 63pc to Mr Shorten’s 5pc.
