Posted on 09/27/2005 2:03:54 AM PDT by Dundee
Latham dirt hits Labor in poll
MARK Latham's diaries have hit the Labor Party like a truck, turning voters off the ALP and dismantling hard-won personal gains by Opposition Leader Kim Beazley.
After two weeks of saturation coverage for the scathing diaries, the ALP's primary support has dropped five points, to the level it was at immediately following Mr Latham's devastating election defeat last year.
A similar fall in Labor Party support followed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
According to the latest Newspoll survey, taken exclusively for The Australian last weekend, the Coalition now has a 10-point lead -- 44 per cent to Labor's 34 -- on primary votes.
The setback to Labor's polling momentum masks public concern about soaring petrol prices and the divisive debate over the privatisation of Telstra.
The five-point fall in primary votes in the past two weeks means Labor has lost a narrow lead of 51 to 49 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis and now trails 47per cent to the Coalition's 53per cent.
Labor's primary vote of 34 per cent is the lowest it has been under Mr Beazley since he reclaimed the leadership in January.
Last December, Labor's primary vote dropped to 33 per cent, the lowest level during Mr Latham's term as Opposition leader and the equal lowest of Mr Beazley's successor, Simon Crean, during his two-year leadership.
In his diaries, Mr Latham attacked the ALP as "irreparably broken" and accused Mr Beazley of waging a "six-year campaign of smear and innuendo against me" that contributed to his decision to quit politics. "My commitment to the Labor cause was destroyed by the bastardry of others," he wrote in The Latham Diaries published last week.
"I no longer regard Labor as a viable force for social justice in this country. Its massive cultural and structural problems are insoluble."
Mr Beazley and Labor frontbenchers hit back at Mr Latham's claims, labelling them "fanciful and untruthful", and called on the ALP to "move on".
Labor had been expecting poor party polling as a result of the revelations in Mr Latham's diaries, including his plan to question the importance of the US alliance, but hoped damage to Mr Beazley's image would not be so great.
After the May budget, when Mr Beazley opposed across-the-board tax cuts, the ALP fell behind the Coalition by 10 points in the primary vote, 37 to 47 per cent.
Since May, the Government's support had fallen and Labor's risen, putting the ALP within striking distance on primary votes and just ahead on two-party-preferred, at 51 per cent to 49 per cent, based on preference flows at the last election.
Mr Beazley's personal standing has also suffered a setback after accusations from Mr Latham that his successor kept a "dirt file" on him and that Mr Beazley's health was not up to that required of a leader.
Two weeks ago, satisfaction with Mr Beazley was 36 per cent, the highest it had been since July and the first time it had clearly risen since April.
But last weekend, Mr Beazley's satisfaction fell three points, to 33per cent, and his dissatisfaction rose four points, to 49 per cent.
John Howard also extended his lead over Mr Beazley on the question of who would make the better prime minister, rising from 51 to 53 per cent as Mr Beazley fell from 27 to 26 per cent.
Other than September 11, the only other events to hit the ALP vote so hard were splits within Labor over the war on Iraq, a challenge to Simon Crean's leadership, the fall of Saddam Hussein, the leadership battle between Mr Latham and Mr Beazley and the aftermath of the last election.
Thanks for the post. I read some of the exerpts - amazing stuff. Do you know if the book is available in paperback already? I can't find it that way online.
I don't think it's in paperback just yet (it only just got released last week).
Yeah I looked for it on Amazon then, and they didn't have it; and on Dymocks it's $40 US for the hardback with shipping. Even so I'm tempted. ;)
LOL!!! Thank you for posting this. :)
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