Turnbull winning over business owners and managers: Research

Business owners, managers and professionals approve of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s first weeks in the top job, according to analysis by Roy Morgan.

Roy Morgan research separated out the business owners, professionals and managers from its recent business confidence survey and analysed their attitudes to the federal government in light of the change in leadership in September.

It found 61.5% of this group of voters now support the Coalition, compared to 38.5% that support the Labor Party.

The analysis showed a clear jump in support among these voters for the Coalition since Turnbull took the leadership from former prime minister Tony Abbott, with the percentage that supports the Coalition increasing by 12.5%.

Conversely, the percentage of these voters who support the federal opposition declined by 12.5%.

This increased support has also been reflected in Roy Morgan’s overall business confidence survey, which increased from 102.6 to 119.3 between August and October.

Speaking to SmartCompany this morning, Roy Morgan executive chairman Gary Morgan says the analysis shows the Coalition has strong support in the business community, with the analysis including small business owners, as well as professionals and managers.

“It shows they are much more pro-Liberal than before Turnbull,” Morgan says.

The Roy Morgan findings differ to those of the latest NAB Business Confidence survey, which found business confidence has declined since Turnbull took over the leadership of the Liberal Party.

However, Morgan questions whether the NAB index is based on the “wrong questions” or represents a different sample of the business community.