Australian government heading for defeat
SYDNEY Australia's conservative government is heading for defeat in a looming election, a widely watched opinion poll showed yesterday, after disappointing news on the economy tarnished Prime Minister Scott Morrison's credibility.
Notching its 50th poll loss in a row, the Liberal-National coalition trailed the centre-left Labor Party by 54 per cent to 46 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.
The coalition trailed Labor by 53 per cent to 47 per cent in the previous Newspoll for The Australian newspaper.
The results would give Labor a clear victory if the election were fought today.
Time is short, as the vote is expected some time in May.
The coalition's primary vote was on 36 per cent, behind Labor on 39 per cent.
The poll of 1,610 people was conducted from last Thursday to Sunday and had a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points.
The result comes a week after government figures showed the Australian economy almost ground to a halt in the fourth quarter of last year, undermining the coalition's claim to being the party of better economic management.
The coalition has also been hit by a wave of high-profile retirements.
The government will present its annual Budget on April 2 and is expected to announce a return to surplus and likely some sort of tax cuts or spending promises to sweeten voters. - REUTERS
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