Tony Abbott has an image problem. Every poll in the country confirms this. Despite the ascendancy of the party he leads and the persistent unpopularity of Prime Minister Gillard, Abbott is not enjoying a honeymoon with voters.
For many, Gillard and Abbott represent the ultimate Sophie’s Choice.
One possible explanation for Abbott’s unpopularity could be the perception that he is overtly negative. Since winning the leadership of the Liberal Party Abbott has mounted a full-frontal assault on the Government. Armed with something akin to a political sledge hammer, he has shattered any sense of political consensus in Australia – tearing down Kevin Rudd and seriously (maybe even mortally) wounding Julia Gillard’s prime ministership. While on the face of it this strategy has been political dynamite for the Coalition, Abbott himself has not emerged unscathed. In the minds of many voters he is defined more by what he won’t stand for, than what he will (“stop the boats, stop the taxes, stop the waste” etc).
There is however an unlikely issue on the horizon that provides an opportunity to rehabilitate the Abbott image – gay marriage. Abbott’s views on the issue are well known. He doesn’t support it, but in unilaterally ruling that his party won’t either, he is making a rod for his own back.
Presumably Abbott thinks that by maintaining a hard-line position on the issue he is keeping maximum pressure on Labor as it struggles to deal with its Prime Minister’s opposition to its own policy platform. Give ’em enough rope certainly seems to be working for him, but it also reinforces the doubts many Australians already have about their alternative prime minister. Will he use the prime ministership to assert his conservative social views over the electorate, will he say no to every idea unless it’s his own?