The latest Roy Morgan Most Trusted & Distrusted Leaders research has bad news for Anthony Albanese but worse news for Peter Dutton.

….. and the political class as a whole also has deep problems with Michelle Levine, Roy Morgan CEO, saying that overall trust is down and deep and toxic distrust has increased.

Albanese recorded more distrust than trust in the Morgan findings but is far closer to a neutral level than Dutton who has a deeply negative net distrust rating. Albanese’s trust level is also almost double that of Dutton.

Peter Dutton is also ranked – by far according to the Roy Morgan research – Australia’s most distrusted politician. He was second most distrusted in 2022 and was beaten comfortably by Scott Morrison back then. But Dutton’s net distrust rating is now better than Morrison’s then – 14% compared with Morrison’s 19%.

Albanese nevertheless is the third most distrusted and Scott Morrison lingers on in second place suggesting the quicker he gets out of politics the better for the Liberals. Clive Palmer is actually the third most distrusted politician putting Albanese in fourth place but the researchers nixed Palmer as not that relevant. Barnaby Joyce is next in line in the distrust ratings.

Roy Morgan also point out an interesting comparison with Dutton vs Albanese and the last Victorian State election where Matthew Guy’s net distrust score was much worse than Andrews’ score pointing out that the trust gap between Dutton and Albanese now and Andrews and Guy then is worse than Guy’s was. And we all know the electoral outcome of that – despite the best efforts of the Murdoch media – an increased majority.

As for why Dutton is so distrusted comments made by survey respondents about him include: disregard for climate change, biodiversity loss and social equality; self-serving with very little compassion for ordinary people; xenophobic, lowlife, opportunistic politician; Right wing, reactionary racist; lies and is only interested in power and self-interest; uses the common denominator of fear; and, is only interested in what he sees as political gain and doesn’t understand the word cooperation or care for what is the best for country or its people.

As for attitudes to Albanese respondents said: They (a very woke pronoun but  nevertheless)  are not telling the truth, especially about Israel and Palestine and the criminals being released into our communities; not helping with the cost of living when there’s a huge surplus; all the money is being spent on wind turbines and solar panels; Albanese belittles the country and regional areas by changing things that work and implementing things that will  ruin the country; rolls over in the face of Opposition pressure and the fossil fuel lobby pressure; made bad decisions for Australia leaving all of Australians to struggle to put food on the tale and rooves over their head.

Who said the Australian public was stupid and ill-informed?

There are nevertheless some politicians who are trusted. They are, in order, Penny Wong, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Jim Chalmers.

Comments about Penny Wong include: speaks with conviction, honest; is respectful of the views of others and does not play on people’s fears; uses facts and logic; more focussed on the job and the best outcomes for Australians rather than political point scoring.

About Jacinta Nampijinpa Price respondents said: speaks the truth, no BS, no fancy words and compassionate and realistic; starts from the middle ground and has real world experience; she just tells it like it is; she speaks plainly and logically.

Roy Morgan also reported on consumer confidence which jumped 4.4 points to 80.8 after the RBA left interest rates unchanged – the highest for more than 10 months since early February 2023. However, consumer confidence has spent a record 45 straight weeks below the 85 mark. However, the latest survey also found that consumer confidence was up in most States including NSW, Victoria. Queensland and WA but slightly down in SA.

Its two party preferred finding had Labor in front of the LNP but Labor primary vote was well down – perhaps an indication of progressive voters’ disappointment with the Albanese Government – but they were not sufficiently disappointed to switch to the LNP with their second preferences.