Canberra, Feb 14 Voter confidence in the Australian government has fallen to its lowest level in two years, a new poll published on Monday revealed.
Researchers from the Centre for Social Research and Methods at the Australian National University (ANU) on Monday published their survey tracking the attitudes and experiences of citizens during the Covid-19 pandemic, reports Xinhua news agency.
It found that of more than 3,400 respondents, or 34.5 per cent, said they hold a "great deal or quite a lot" of faith in the federal government's performance.
It is the lowest level of confidence in the government during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"This is down from a peak of 60.6 percent in May 2020 and lower than in October of last year (41.4 per cent)," Nicholas Biddle, co-author of the study, said in a statement.
"In fact, this is only slightly above the level of confidence prior to the pandemic and during the Black Summer bushfires, when only 27.3 per cent of Austral had confidence in the federal government."
Biddle said the survey also revealed a "decline in confidence in hospitals and the health system, the largest we have seen during the pandemic".
"Although people are still quite confident in the health system, clearly the handling of the pandemic and the ongoing wave of Omicron infections is starting to take a real toll on how all major institutions are viewed by Austral."
The latest Newspoll, which was published by News Corp Australia on Sunday night, corroborated the ANU findings.
It revealed that the opposition Labor party leads the governing Coalition 55-45 on a two-party preferred basis.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese maintained a better net satisfaction rating than Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
However, 43 per cent of respondents identified the incumbent Morrison as their preferred Prime Minister compared to 38 per cent for Albanese.
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