| Relevance to the WoT? We need Mr. Howard. |
CANBERRA, Sept. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- A new opinion poll on Australia'sOct. 9 federal election shows that each of the ruling coalition and Australian Labor Party (ALP) got 50 percent of support on a two-party preferred basis. It means the coalition's support surges over a week ago when the election campaign began. The coalition's support was 48 percent a week ago compared with ALP's support of 52 percent.
Prime Minister John Howard holds a lead over Opposition Leader Mark Latham as the preferred prime minister, but Howard is behind Latham on the central theme of trust, according to the latest News poll survey, taken exclusively last weekend for The Australian, one of the country's leading newspapers.
Howard's support as preferred prime minister is 49 percent, compared with Latham's support of 37 percent. The support rates of Howard and Latham were up by 1 percent and 3 percent respectively from that in the poll a week ago. When asked who they would trust more, 40 percent of respondents chose Latham, compared with 29 percent choosing Howard. Twenty-three percent said "neither" could be trusted. The poll also shows that the coalition's primary vote rose from 43 percent to 45 percent while ALP's primary vote remained at 40 percent. |