Monday, August 13, 2007

Johny Howard's last days - John Key next year?

IS John Howard dog tucker? A forerunner of things to come - John Key next year?

CANBERRA - John Howard could become the first sitting prime minister to lose his seat for almost 80 years according to a new poll yesterday.

A Galaxy Poll conducted for the Sunday Telegraph points to Howard facing a humiliating defeat in his own seat of Bennelong at the hands of glamour Labor candidate Maxine McKew.

The poll shows Liberal voters continuing to desert the Prime Minister's cause in droves.

If he was beaten by former TV journalist McKew, Howard would be the first sitting prime minister to lose his seat since Stanley Melbourne Bruce in 1929.

The Sunday Telegraph/SBS Insight Galaxy Poll was conducted on the evenings of August 8 and 9, based on a sample of 800 voters. It found 47 per cent of those surveyed intended to give their first preference vote to McKew while 44 per cent intended to vote for Howard.

Support for McKew is now 19 points higher than the vote achieved by the ALP candidate at the last federal election.

The newspaper said the fact Howard had been unable to claw back McKew's lead - despite Budget tax cuts and family benefits coming on stream and initiatives such as the intervention in indigenous child abuse in the Northern Territory - would reinforce perceptions that voters were no longer listening to the Prime Minister.

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