Despite Labor's defeat in the NT elections after governing there for 11 years, Labor Party supporters are taking heart at the modest improvement in the party鈥檚 standing in the latest Newspoll and Herald/Nielsen poll.
, taken for the Australian over August 18-19, showed the ALP's primary vote at 35% up from its low of 28% in mid-July, while the Liberal-National Coalition stayed at 45%.
, showed the ALP's primary vote rose 2% in a month to 32%, while the Coalition鈥檚 fell 2% to 45%.
Both polls still predict that the ALP would lose a federal election if it was held now.
The Herald/Nielsen poll also found that PM Julia Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott were equally unpopular. Gillard and Abbott share an approval rating of 39% and a disapproval rating of 57%.
The Newspoll put Gillard鈥檚 disapproval at 60% and Abbott鈥檚 at 54%.
The Sydney Morning Herald鈥檚 Phillip Coorey suggested that Labor鈥檚 carbon price/emissions trading scheme (ETS) and its harsh new refugee policy had influenced the slight shift in the ALP鈥檚 favour.
The carbon price/ETS, while still opposed by 59% (according to Nielsen), has not delivered the economic pain the Coalition was scaring the public about. Labor and the Coalition鈥檚 joint support for a return to 鈥渙ffshore processing鈥 of asylum seekers had 67% support.
ALP NSW branch chief Sam Dastyari was quick to claim that Labor鈥檚 return to a reactionary refugee policy copied from the Howard government in Sydney on August 25.
Last week hundreds of thousands of people watched the second series of SBS TV's Go Back Where You Came From. Once again, the show exposed the anti-refugee political discourse of the major parties for the cruel, calculated manipulation of racist prejudice and hatred that it is.
The Gillard government also rushed, sadly with the Greens endorsement, to and consequently an even weaker a response to the climate change crisis. All this while about this crisis.
This is the dark, dark cloud in the ALP's sliver of a silver lining in the polls.
If you are revolted by the morally bankrupt and ecologically irresponsible politics of the major parties you need to help build the movement for real change.
Make a donation to the 91自拍论坛 Weekly fighting fund this week. Direct deposits can also be made to Greenleft, Commonwealth Bank, BSB 062-006, Account No. 00901992. Otherwise, you can send a cheque or money order to PO Box 515, Broadway NSW 2007 or donate on the toll-free line at 1800 634 206 (within Australia).