The media and the Liberals hold Malcolm Turnbull to much lower standards of performance. Today's poll: THE battle [for Bennelong] is neck and neck, putting Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s one-seat majority at grave risk, the first poll into the seat shows.
An exclusive Saturday Telegraph/Galaxy Research poll has revealed ... the two-party preferred vote is on a 50-50 knife-edge.
Dissatisfaction with the Turnbull government ... has delivered Labor a massive 10 per cent swing in Bennelong since the 2016 federal election
Now contrast and compare the (non) reaction to that poll to the reaction to a similar poll before the 2015 by-election for Canning, just before Tony Abbott was toppled as Prime Minister.
Remember how the media ran the lines of the Turnbull camp to destroy Abbott? The ABC, September 13, 2015: Prime Minister Tony Abbott has dismissed suggestions that a bad showing for the Liberal Party in next weekend's Canning by-election could cost him his job...
A poll last month showed the Government could face a 10 per cent swing against it, pointing to a close contest, and some Coalition MPs have previously said they believe the result will be a test of Mr Abbott's leadership. Samantha Maiden, September 13, 2015: FRONTBENCH plotters pushing for Malcolm Turnbull’s return to the leadership have declared a challenge inevitable as a new poll predicts the Prime Minister faces a savage 10 per cent swing in the Canning by-election...
A senior Liberal MP said: “The Prime Minister’s future is done and dusted. Malcolm is the solution. The bottom line is it cannot go on.’ Fairfax's Mark Kenny, September 14, 2015: Tony Abbott's prime ministership is again in doubt as Liberals brace for a severe anti-government swing in this Saturday's Canning byelection, potentially kick-starting a fresh attempt to install former leader Malcolm Turnbull in the job.
So fractious is the mood within the government that in one high-risk scenario being discussed, a move to bring things to a head could arise this week... Fuelling the anxiety is a new Fairfax-Ipsos poll of 1003 respondents taken over the weekend that found ... a swing in the order of 10 per cent.
In the end, that poll turned out to be a rogue one. The Liberals held Canning easily - 55 per cent to 45 - containing the swing to 7.5 per cent.
That could have been enough for Abbott to kickstart a revival after the media pile on, but Turnbull and Bishop had (deliberately) snatched that chance from him by toppling him days earlier.
But that's now history.
More interesting now is why a poll suggesting a 10 per cent swing against Abbott in a 2015 by-election poll was widely reported as the last straw for his leadership, while a 10 per cent swing against Turnbull a 2017 by-election poll is just another day at the office?
Reader Peter of Bellevue Hill: It’s worth noting that even if Abbott had lost Canning (a most unlikely outcome), he would still have been sitting on a thumping majority in the Lower House (that would be the thumping majority lost under Turnbull, of course) - but if Turnbull loses Bennelong, the Libs could lose government.
If rolling Abbot to hold Canning was seen by the partyroom as imperative, surely rolling Turnbull to hold Bennelong is an even greater imperative?
