PRIMARY VOTE LEADER FROM ROUND 1: Whitlam
EXCLUDED IN ROUND 1: Turnbull, Fraser
Rudd continues only because of irregular voting patterns for Abbott
Round 2 voting open in sidebar til 6 pm AEDST, 31 October
A month ago I started a multi-round Not-A-Poll to determine this site's visitors' choice for the title of Best Prime Minister of the Last 45 Years. The idea is that each month the Prime Minister in last place is eliminated and the rest continue until someone gets over 50% and wins. There are rules permitting multiple exclusions in certain cases, to speed up the process a bit. Each round runs for a month, so you can vote for different candidates from round to round if you want to. Multiple voting is in theory banned and adjustments may be made if I detect it, but there will probably be a lot of low-level multiple voting I can't detect or prevent. Comments about the merits of the contestants are welcome.
Technical note: If you wish to vote on a mobile, switch to "View web version" at the bottom of an article.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Poll Roundup: The Clock Strikes Twenty
2PP Aggregate: 53.6 to ALP (+0.2 since last week)
Labor would easily win election held "right now"
This will be a rather brief Poll Roundup by my standards, because apart from same-sex marriage polling (covered in a separate rolling post) there isn't all that much around to see! We're five weeks on from my previous roundup, and in terms of the prospect of the government recovering before the next election, that's another five weeks down the drain. Predictively, that doesn't mean a lot, but it is bad news for one particular member of the Coalition: the PM. He edges another two Newspolls closer to matching the metric of 30 consecutive Newspoll 2PP losses that he used to justify the removal of Tony Abbott. Just ten to go ...
Precisely what happens if these ten are all lost and the Coalition are still down the tube nobody knows. Would the whole "thirty Newspolls" thing take on a life of its own in public perception of Turnbull's fate, contributing to even worse Newspolls, or would it only be of interest to the beltway and political junkies, and shrugged off as irrelevant by everyone else? For it to be game over the very same week, while logical and fair, would seem too obvious, too artificial. These bad polls seem so set in, and the Galaxy-run Newspoll so remorseless, that it's hard to see just what would end it. A personal triumph on same-sex marriage? Worth some bounce surely, but enough for 50-50 after such weakness on the issue? War with North Korea? Maybe, though whether the more likely mechanism there is a rally round the flag or Newspoll being hit by an errant missile meant for Guam is not clear either.
Labor would easily win election held "right now"
This will be a rather brief Poll Roundup by my standards, because apart from same-sex marriage polling (covered in a separate rolling post) there isn't all that much around to see! We're five weeks on from my previous roundup, and in terms of the prospect of the government recovering before the next election, that's another five weeks down the drain. Predictively, that doesn't mean a lot, but it is bad news for one particular member of the Coalition: the PM. He edges another two Newspolls closer to matching the metric of 30 consecutive Newspoll 2PP losses that he used to justify the removal of Tony Abbott. Just ten to go ...
Precisely what happens if these ten are all lost and the Coalition are still down the tube nobody knows. Would the whole "thirty Newspolls" thing take on a life of its own in public perception of Turnbull's fate, contributing to even worse Newspolls, or would it only be of interest to the beltway and political junkies, and shrugged off as irrelevant by everyone else? For it to be game over the very same week, while logical and fair, would seem too obvious, too artificial. These bad polls seem so set in, and the Galaxy-run Newspoll so remorseless, that it's hard to see just what would end it. A personal triumph on same-sex marriage? Worth some bounce surely, but enough for 50-50 after such weakness on the issue? War with North Korea? Maybe, though whether the more likely mechanism there is a rally round the flag or Newspoll being hit by an errant missile meant for Guam is not clear either.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Recent Polling On The Same-Sex Marriage Postal Survey
The national ABS postal "survey" on whether the law should be changed to allow same-sex marriage in Australia is now in its second week. A number of pieces of polling have been published or alluded to since my last general polling update, but what do they really tell us about the outcome and how reliable are they? At this stage there is still much that we do not know. It is too early to be certain Yes has it in the bag, but the widespread narrative that support for Yes is crashing rapidly and that this is another Trump or Brexit coming is so far not that well supported by the evidence.
Public Polling: Ipsos
Firstly, the public polling. Last week saw an Ipsos poll which buoyed some worried Yes supporters with a 70-26 Yes response, one of the highest Yes votes ever recorded in a poll in Australia. Indeed, as far as I'm aware, this score has only been exceeded in a few commissioned polls and one Morgan-SMS (a suspect polling method) which did not use an undecided option. The Ipsos also found a 70% Yes response among the 65% of voters who rated themselves as certain to vote, and found a gender gap with 72% of women and 59% of men saying they were certain to vote.
Public Polling: Ipsos
Firstly, the public polling. Last week saw an Ipsos poll which buoyed some worried Yes supporters with a 70-26 Yes response, one of the highest Yes votes ever recorded in a poll in Australia. Indeed, as far as I'm aware, this score has only been exceeded in a few commissioned polls and one Morgan-SMS (a suspect polling method) which did not use an undecided option. The Ipsos also found a 70% Yes response among the 65% of voters who rated themselves as certain to vote, and found a gender gap with 72% of women and 59% of men saying they were certain to vote.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
A Free Speech Problem With Marriage Law Survey Safeguards
Advance Summary
1. This article raises concerns about specific "hate speech" prohibitions in the Government's Marriage Law Survey (Additional Safeguards) Bill 2017.
2. This article argues that Sections 15(1)(a) and (b) place unreasonable constraints on free speech by making political opinions attributes that are protected from "vilification", contrary to the normal practice of anti-vilification laws.
3.The ability to express strong criticism of people who present offensive or unfactual opinions serves as an important deterrent against expressing such opinions in the first place.
4. Many aspects of the proposed Sections and the limited exemptions available are insufficiently clear to a lay reader and involve a novel area of Australian anti-discrimination law.
5. Sections 15(1)(a) and (b) should be amended so that they apply only to intimidation and threats and not to "vilification".
6. If this does not occur, then the debate surrounding the postal survey is not an adequately and clearly free and fair environment for the frank exchange of opinions and criticism.
1. This article raises concerns about specific "hate speech" prohibitions in the Government's Marriage Law Survey (Additional Safeguards) Bill 2017.
2. This article argues that Sections 15(1)(a) and (b) place unreasonable constraints on free speech by making political opinions attributes that are protected from "vilification", contrary to the normal practice of anti-vilification laws.
3.The ability to express strong criticism of people who present offensive or unfactual opinions serves as an important deterrent against expressing such opinions in the first place.
4. Many aspects of the proposed Sections and the limited exemptions available are insufficiently clear to a lay reader and involve a novel area of Australian anti-discrimination law.
5. Sections 15(1)(a) and (b) should be amended so that they apply only to intimidation and threats and not to "vilification".
6. If this does not occur, then the debate surrounding the postal survey is not an adequately and clearly free and fair environment for the frank exchange of opinions and criticism.
Monday, September 11, 2017
Response From ABS to Marriage Law Postal Survey Questions
On 16 August I sent the ABS a list of fourteen questions regarding the conduct of the Marriage Law Postal Survey, in particular regarding count quality assurance issues. Some of the questions were answered in subsequent public debate. The response below was received today, September 11, from Michael Wilson of ABS and is reproduced in full. My questions as sent are in italics. My thanks to the ABS for their detailed responses at this busy time.
I have added some comments of my own below the responses, and may add more later.
I have added some comments of my own below the responses, and may add more later.
Saturday, September 9, 2017
Thylacine: Specimen Or It Didn't Happen
This week a group of Tasmanians (press conference here) claimed to have seen and to have footage of a living thylacine, a species which has not been confirmed to exist since the last known specimen died in captivity on September 7, 1936. No zoologist has yet accepted this extremely blurry footage as being of a thylacine, and many wildlife observers consider it is very likely to be a spotted-tailed quoll.
You can see a longer video here. It contains unconvincing (compare actual accounts) "barking", the video above, something unidentifable nosing the camera, and a bunch of Where's Wally pics in which you can just make out what might be the eyes of something if you try very hard. When I slow down the main video frame by frame I can see blurry paler patches on the animal consistent with the spotting on a spotted-tailed quoll. The most interesting thing about the videos is actually the large number of lyrebirds (introduced to Tasmania) that they show.
I thought it might be of some interest to someone out there to outline my position regarding this poor animal the thylacine, and the intermittent circus of alleged "sightings", "photos" and "videos" surrounding it. As usual, I am expressing my own view and not necessarily the view of any organisation I belong to or any employer I from time to time work for.
You can see a longer video here. It contains unconvincing (compare actual accounts) "barking", the video above, something unidentifable nosing the camera, and a bunch of Where's Wally pics in which you can just make out what might be the eyes of something if you try very hard. When I slow down the main video frame by frame I can see blurry paler patches on the animal consistent with the spotting on a spotted-tailed quoll. The most interesting thing about the videos is actually the large number of lyrebirds (introduced to Tasmania) that they show.
I thought it might be of some interest to someone out there to outline my position regarding this poor animal the thylacine, and the intermittent circus of alleged "sightings", "photos" and "videos" surrounding it. As usual, I am expressing my own view and not necessarily the view of any organisation I belong to or any employer I from time to time work for.
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