WA:Barnett quadruples lead over Ripper: poll

AAP General News (Australia)
12-31-2010
WA:Barnett quadruples lead over Ripper: poll

PERTH, Dec 31 AAP - WA Premier Colin Barnett has almost quadrupled his lead over Labor's
Eric Ripper as preferred premier, the latest Newspoll shows.

Mr Barnett's once precarious Liberal-Nationals alliance government could easily win
an election with 58 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote - up six percentage points
since the September 2008 election, the survey published by The Australian on Friday shows.

Labor has slipped to just 42 per cent - down six points since the election - and its
primary vote is 29 per cent, down eight points. The Liberal-Nationals' primary vote is
at 49 per cent, up six points.

Sixty per cent of voters said they preferred Mr Barnett as premier, compared with just
16 per cent for Mr Ripper.

The polling between October and December coincided with a string of problems for Mr
Barnett, but the only impact was a small rise in his dissatisfaction rating, up three
points to 35 per cent since the previous survey.

Mr Ripper's dissatisfaction rating rose one point to 43 per cent.

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KEYWORD: NEWSPOLL

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