Polling suggests government ministers are some of Australia’s least trusted politicians whereas Labor frontbenchers are among the most trusted.
Of sitting members, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Defence Minister Peter Dutton, and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce are the least trusted politicians, according to polling from Roy Morgan.
On the other side of the scale, Labor’s leader in the Senate Penny Wong, Opposition leader Anthony Albanese, and Shadow Education Minister Tanya Plibersek are the most trusted.
Politicians with highest net distrust score. Source: Roy Morgan
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said this level of distrust in government leaders could spell trouble for the Coalition.
“With Peter Dutton the second most distrusted politician in Australia and Josh Frydenberg almost out of the top ten, this may well become crucial if the Coalition loses the May election and there’s a leadership battle between Frydenberg and Dutton.
“Australian political contests are no longer purely won on trust, they are lost on distrust.”
Politicians with highest net trust score. Source: Roy Morgan
Polling was conducted with 1409 participants via SMS between 28 February and 1 March.
Ms Levine said that polling was conducted by asking participants to name the politician they trusted the most and the politician they trusted the least. Results were then aggregated and expressed as a percentage of total responses.
She said that having these two dimensions could account for some of the “inflation” from fame and name recognition. Furthermore, she said that Roy Morgan excluded politicians who were mentioned only a few times.
Dr Jill Sheppard, a lecturer at the Australian National University who specialises in survey design and methodology, advised caution interpreting the polling results.
“I think polls like this reveal just how strong the media’s role is in shaping the political narrative.
“The way that this poll was conducted is interesting – it gets us to name the first person who comes to mind as trustworthy or untrustworthy.
“I don’t think we should interpret [the results] as insight into voters’ decisions on election day, but it certainly does tell us something about who we think are the heroes and villains in Australian politics at the moment.”
Nonetheless, it is significant that Scott Morrison was the politician respondents most frequently associated with distrust and Albanese most frequently associated with trust.
One-year rolling average of trust in government score. Source: Roy Morgan
Roy Morgan also found that trust in government had waned since the peak in mid- to late-2020 when Australia’s Covid-19 case count was relatively low compared to much of the rest of the world.
Its data show that trust began to decline once Brittany Higgins came out with allegations of rape in Parliament House and a litany of scandals embroiling government ministers followed. Trust sank further in May 2021 when the Delta strain of Covid-19 caught Australia and its government flat-footed and largely unvaccinated.
