Labor's personal campaign against Tony Abbott is working.

Labor's negativity pays off in the short run

Dennis Shanahan, Political Editor
The Australian
November 13, 2012 12:00AM 

LABOR'S personal campaign against Tony Abbott is working.

In one of the true ironies of modern political campaigning, a relentlessly negative and obsessive campaign is being run to portray an opponent as relentlessly negative and obsessive.

In an unprecedented concentration on a leader of the opposition, the Gillard government has determinedly sought to make Abbott the centre of the story, the man in the middle, and has talked more about him than its own achievements or record.

Abbott's obsession with forcing an early election and prosecuting the highly negative case against the carbon tax the Prime Minister promised not to introduce has contributed to his highly negative profile with voters. His satisfaction rating among voters is now the worst it has been.

Yet Abbott's character hasn't changed - he's no more sexist or old-fashioned than he was in December 2009 and he has not unveiled any controversial policies of late. Indeed, he's hardly unveiled any policy at all.

Hence, Labor's strategy of declaring a gender war with Abbott as the main target has worked on his personal support and fitted neatly with Labor's recent rise from its doldrums of despair.

Heading into an election year, it's a dangerous and trying time for Abbott as Opposition Leader, but he still has the advantage of being able to point to a primary vote giving the Coalition an election-winning lead. And he still has positive policy announcements ahead of him.

For an opposition leader, that remains a powerful claim despite the clear success of Labor's personal campaign against him.