The Westpac/Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment is a fitting signal for what has been an unhappy year for the Federal Government.
Polls
Political snippets: A picture’s worth not words but votes
Julia Gillard’s approval rating as measured by AC Nielsen is up six percentage points in a month that saw her stride naturally onto a world stage.
Essential: Gillard a model of stability, Greens gain ground
For all the convulsions it has faced on the political front, in one respect the Gillard government has presented a model of stability in recent months: its opinion poll ratings, as measured by the weekly Essential Research report, have been set in stone since the middle of June.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Announcing the first Kindle winner …
Crikey readers have their say.
Political snippets: Why the PM’s unpopularity?
This morning’s Newspoll result, is truly dismal for Julia Gillard and her team.
Political snippets: Obama goes from bad to worse
President Barack Obama is off on his bus version of a whistle stop campaign tour and according to Gallup he needs to rustle up a bit of support.
Political snippets: Woolworths’ ACDC wine brain fade
Perhaps Woolworths will ask the producers to add a Bon Scott label drawing attention to the coroner’s finding that the original lead singer for the band died of “acute alcohol poisoning”
Crikey Says: Groundhog Day
A permanent campaign is no way to run a country. Exhibit 1 — the United States of America.
Political snippets: Confidence in Australian economy ebbs again
The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment fell by 3.5% in August from 92.8 in July to 89.6 in August.
Media briefs: Julia’s cookie crumbles …. The Nation’s Rupert ad …
Yes, it’s come to this. Julia Gillard’s popularity is now at such a low level that even Sesame Street favourite, the humble Cookie Monster, is out polling her. Plus other media news.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Poles apart polls have too much pull
Crikey readers have their say.
Political snippets: More Bangkok for your polling buck
I know I have regularly criticised those of my peers who slavishly rely on opinion polls published well before the actual polling day to predict election outcomes but, I’m sorry, I cannot resist this one that appeared at the weekend in the Bangkok Post.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Polling, mandates and the carbon tax
Crikey reads have their say.
Political snippets: The budget yawn.
So the impact of the budget has been measured by the pollsters and nothing really has changed.
Political snippets: Insulting Abbott is not cuttting through with voters
Calling Tony Abbott a scare monger for his views on what a carbon tax would do to employment is not working for the Gillard government.
Possum: Crashes and rebounds for Labor
Plugging all the latest political polling data fit to print, we can see how the two party preferred Pollytrend has changed, from a sharp downturn for the government in late February, to a recovery in recent weeks. Possum Comitatus explains.
Political snippets: The great waste of time, effort and words
I think I need to devise a new warning system to accompany any future comment I make about every promise a politician makes.
Essential: Gillard, Abbott rubbing voters the wrong way
Both the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader are falling in voters’ estimation, according to today’s Essential Report.
Views on gay marriage: from 2004-now
With three recent polls in the last few months gauging public opinion on same sex marriage, it’s worth taking a squiz at how opinion has changed over the last few years. Possum Comitatus breaks down the results into demographics.
infographic 
Issues American voters care about
Every January the Pew Research Centre in America surveys the population on which political issues they care most about. Here is a compilation of their research, dating back to 2001.
Newspoll: 63-37 to Coalition in NSW
The latest NSW Newspoll finds Labor plumbing lows previously undreamt of, and the state’s optional preferential voting system is likely to make matters even worse for Labor by starving them of Greens preferences, writes William Bowe.
Why we’re not paying much attention to polling at the moment
Recently we haven’t been paying much attention to polling. The reason is because the results have been a little…odd. Not necessary wrong, but odd, writes Possum Comitatus.
Political snippets: Farmer: running the circus from the monkey cage
Call me old-fashioned but I’m continuing with my commitment to try and put all opinion polls out of my mind as I make my guess about what is happening in the electorates of Australia.
Political snippets: Markets, not polls, the best guide to public opinion
I just don’t believe that public opinion moves in as dramatic a fashion as these and the other polls so I’ll stick with the market as providing the best guide and it is suggesting Labor is just above 52% nationally.
Waleed Aly: What plunging polls really means
One bad poll doesn’t always mean just one bad poll, writes Waleed Aly. Labor’s haemorrhaging votes at the moment and it’s partly because voters are so disillusioned that they are constantly flip-flopping.
