The real reason Abbott's trailing, page-14

"Abbott was the proverbial "drover's dog"'

Of course he was, but we cannot ignore the influence that he played as the most negative opposition leader in our history. Now that he been promoted beyond his ability, he is unable to transform from negative attack dog to inspiring statesman. In a nutshell, wrong man for the job. One thing the Gillard years showed was that the public has a yearning for truthfulness and integrity in our political system. Into the fray, stepped Team Abbott. The electorate is resoundingly unimpressed. We talk about Abbott but the Party as whole seems to have lost its integrity as we are faced with one political conjob/lie after another. In many respects, the electorate was forewarned but they did it anyway. One could say the public has stopped listening, but in reality, they never were.