Scott Morrison?s approval rating at lowest point since aftermath of black summer bushfires - The Guardian Australia

Voter approval of Scott Morrison is at its lowest level since before the outbreak of the pandemic, while the government’s handling of international relations has taken a hit over the past month, the latest Guardian Essential poll suggests.

After a torrid week on the international stage that saw Morrison’s feud with the French president dominating the agenda and Australia’s climate policies under the spotlight, the survey of 1,089 people tracked a six percentage point drop in the prime minister’s approval rating since October.

The survey, which was taken while Morrison attended the G20 summit in Rome and the United Nations Cop26 conference in Glasgow, found 48% of those surveyed approved of the job he was doing as prime minister while 42% disapproved.

This continues a gradual decline in voter satisfaction with Morrison which has fallen from a high of 65% in February and is at its lowest level since the 41% recorded in March 2020 in the wake of the black summer bushfires.

Morrison’s approval rate is steady across most states, but the fall is being driven by voter sentiment in Queensland where approval has fallen from 60% to 46%.

Approval for the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, went from 41% to 40% nationally - which is within the poll’s 3.1% margin of error - while one in four voters are still unsure about his performance.

Morrison remains ahead as preferred prime minister, 44% to 28%, but his dominance on this metric has eroded over the past year from 52% of people in February who preferred him over Albanese at 24%.