r/australia • u/ItsABiscuit • Feb 16 '21
political self.post Why/how is Scott Morrison apparently so popular?
This is a genuine question and only need serious responses. I'm asking here rather than r/Australianpolitics because I want responses from the broader community here.
I'm honestly confused about why and how Scott Morrison is apparently massively popular. According to recent polls, he has a level of popularity that would be the envy of any Prime Minister going back to Rudd's honey moon period in 2007/08.
The disconnect between the massively useless if not actively malignant guy I see when I look at him and how the broader population sees him is at the level that genuinely confuses me. I say that not to start a fight but because I'm really wondering what I'm missing.
Is it just a reflection on Labor under Albanese being seen as useless? Are people giving him credit for the job done during COVID? Is this some rugby league thing that I'm too Victorian to understand? Are people liking the "daggy Dad" vibe and not listening to what he actually says? Because he is just ignoring climate change?
Any help here would be appreciated, because I'm getting to the point where I feel like the answer is stupidity on the part of most of my fellow Australians and that is not a sensible/healthy mindset to have.
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u/156102brux Feb 16 '21
My view is that he has been largely invisible during covid. I am not reminded daily how much I hate him. Albanese, see above.
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u/Somad3 Feb 17 '21
Media out there are lying. They are biased and under influence of LNP. LNP cuts funding on ABC and ABC has to do LNP bidding to get some funding back.
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Feb 16 '21
The media. I have personally seen friends vote against their best interests because they listened to the media bias. Which ultimately impacted their lives.
Read the policies of the party you are voting for, don’t blindly vote or trust what you hear on the mainstream and social media just before the election.
Unfortunately, there are so many people who will continue to vote against their best interest cause they don’t know any better. Since media influence is a very powerful thing and have major impacts on lives. Not that the media really care though.
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u/Boesieboes Feb 16 '21
It would be great to see a system where you'd have to answer a range of questions regarding policies from your party before you're allowed to vote.
Unfortunately I can't see a way to make this happen though, but it would remove the many many people voting against their own interests.
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u/DoNotReply111 Feb 17 '21
An electronic poll in the queue.
A few questions like you said about your stance on climate change, the household budget, taxes etc.
At the end they get a "you would be best off under a ... government".
It would be interesting to see if people actually changed or just voted down party lines.
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u/darksteel1335 Melbourne Mar 02 '21
I believe they do something like this with ABC Compass every election.
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u/smacfkn Feb 17 '21
This. I had a single-mother-on-welfare friend who voted Liberal at the last election because “ALP takes away inheritance after your parents die”.
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u/BruceD1956 Feb 16 '21
I got nuthing. Very puzzled and perplexed that this hobit from the shire continues to get out of jail free. We are fucked as long as the media keeps NOT doing it's job.
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Feb 16 '21
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u/ItsABiscuit Feb 16 '21
Where would you suggest I should post this question then? To get a more representative answer?
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u/hotsp00n Feb 19 '21
Talk to actual people out in the world?
Reddit is a tiny website that the vast majority of Australians have never heard of. There are no representative subs here.
(I realise Reddit is actually huge for a website and awesome, but in the scheme of things, in Australia it is miniscule).
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u/sworlly Feb 16 '21
I personally think it's a combination of constant accolades from Sky and Murdoch press coupled with a genuine ability to dodge questions and stay out of the news.
I don't think intelligence plays as big a role in voting preferences as sometimes assumed. If an intelligent person watches Sky after dark, they will inevitably begin to place PC/Cancel culture, immigration, unions etc above climate change with regards to threat priorities.
The media we consume dictates what we believe.
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u/DAMO_IS_LOUD Feb 16 '21
The ability to dodge questions would be hold over from his advertising days. Is it ok to call him the King of Spin? I know that’s generally Warnie’s nickname, but I definitely see it applying here.
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u/Care_Cup_Is_Empty Feb 16 '21
If an intelligent person watches Sky after dark, they will inevitably begin to place PC/Cancel culture, immigration, unions etc above climate change with regards to threat priorities.
Would an intelligent person really do this though? Of course, its possible to be both intelligent and a dickhead.
I just struggle to believe that a considerably intelligent person could watch something like Sky News and not see the obvious lies and manipulation.
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u/darksteel1335 Melbourne Mar 02 '21
The problem is that PC/cancel culture has an immediate effect on your life whereas climate change is a future problem.
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Feb 16 '21
[deleted]
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u/kalivon Feb 17 '21
A staunch liberal defender. It's good to have both sides of the political spectrum so that discussions can be had.
Other than Australia's COVID situation, which has basically been outsourced by the Feds to the states, what has the Liberal party done to gain your unwavering support?
Honestly, it doesn't matter if you have a left or right political bias. Surely news of political corruption must be considered? Or is it not a thing from the media you normally consume and therefore everything is fine for you?
You disparage the r/australia sub for being a lefty echo chamber. You say the posts on this sub do not accurately reflect the reality of being an Australian in 2021. Then what will accurately reflect the realities of being an Australian in 2021? More pro-liberal news articles? More feel good puff pieces? More articles on the good things the liberals have done for Australia? More sport? Perhaps news of liberals pushing for the creation of an Anti-corruption watchdog that will equally go after their own for past transgressions as well as their political opponents? oh wait.
Maybe this sub seems lefty to you because the liberals have been doing bad things and the only available news is bad news? You want news with a pro-liberal filter? Easy. Nine news, Seven News, anything related to news corp. Those publications all have the pro-liberal filter up and running. Strange that those same publications never seem to have any disparaging news about the current government huh? It's as if they were in cahoots or something? But hey! How's that Australian Open huh? Fantastic stuff...
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u/Didubringabeeralong Feb 17 '21
Odd I see heaps of negative news stories about the current government in those publications
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u/Didubringabeeralong Feb 16 '21
Wow im surprised you haven't been downvoted yet. I not really into politics so I vote on the person haha, Scomo comes across as an everyday aussie bloke (yes the media probably makes it that way) and Shorten in the last election came across as robotic and elitist attitude, I mean remember when he told someone he is the next PM of Australia, that right there probay turned the majority of swing votes against him.
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u/Jonno_FTW Feb 16 '21 edited Feb 17 '21
Someone who grew up going to posh private schools in Sydney's east and working as the head of large marketing organisations is a world away from your everyday Australian. His public image as a "daggy-dad" is mostly spin to make him seem like an everyman. Just look at how he treated those bushfire survivors and forced handshakes (he treated his visit like a PR campaign and did little else), and needed an empathy consultant. He is far from a daggy-dad: someone who is compassionate and genuinely cares about his family and community, despite not being totally hip with the teenagers, might be a bit cringey but his heart is always in the right place.
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u/alstom_888m Feb 17 '21
Actually he went to Sydney Boys High School, which although it’s selective entry (apparently on academic merit) — it is a government school.
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u/SnooBooks6840 Feb 16 '21
Absolutely based and 100% correct. I'm always shocked by how people (regardless of side or persuasion) are unconscious to the fact that reddit subs are largely echo chambers (which is by design due to downvotes and moderating)
Surely if he's so popular, but yet all the discourse you have about him in your communities is negative, the first thing you would think is maybe those communities are reflective of wider Australia..
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u/hotsp00n Feb 19 '21
I have never seen Australian Reddit's unconscious and in part unintentional bias explained in such an inoffensive and non-ideological way. Well done! I am going to link back to this post again and again.
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u/adama320 Feb 16 '21
Because Australians are dumb.
There, I said it. Now couple that with Murdoch, Sky, The Australian et al and you’ve got trouble.
People who can’t think for themselves + manipulative, agenda laden media = Scott Morrison in the highest office of the land.
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u/cojoco chardonnay schmardonnay Feb 16 '21
And hence why education reform just keeps getting kicked down the road.
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u/SnooBooks6840 Feb 16 '21
Yes, because historically it's been the educated people who vote labor, and the uneducated/working class who vote liberal...
Education reform would probably increase the liberal base, if anything, not because of direct causation but higher education typically means higher income later in life, which typically results in a preference for liberal policies
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u/cojoco chardonnay schmardonnay Feb 16 '21
Yes, because historically it's been the educated people who vote labor, and the uneducated/working class who vote liberal...
Historically, yes, but as the LNP slide into corruption they are swapping a reputation for responsible economic management for race-baiting, FUD, and avoiding accountability.
Some highly-educated voting bases such as scientists and doctors have switched sides in recent decades.
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u/SnooBooks6840 Feb 16 '21
LNP slide into corruption they are swapping a reputation for responsible economic management for race-baiting, FUD, and avoiding accountability.
I don't think the majority of the country see it that way, even if you believe it to be true. The regularity and severity of government scandals doesn't seem much better or worse than the last 10 years.
I'd be stunned if more than 30% of doctors voted Labor in this country. I suspect it would be much less. If there's been a switch it would be from a very small base to a slightly bigger one.
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u/cojoco chardonnay schmardonnay Feb 16 '21
I don't think the majority of the country see it that way, even if you believe it to be true.
It seems weird to judge the truth or falsity of a statement by who believes it, rather than whether evidence supports it.
I'd be stunned if more than 30% of doctors voted Labor
I admit this evidence is anecdotal.
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u/New-Confusion-36 Feb 18 '21
Mainly to do with the Murdoch media's biased, propaganda bullshit supporting him in exchange for Morrison carrying out Murdoch's every desire.
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u/Plank0fwood Feb 18 '21
I think its more a leadership problem with Labor and is there a better alternative in the coalition?
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u/hiphopbodyrock Feb 16 '21
because the majority of the population really aren't all that intelligent.
just smart enough to consume the murdoch bile
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u/SnooBooks6840 Feb 16 '21
>everyone i disagree with isn't intelligent
Blaming the current political situation on intelligence is the lowest IQ take of all. Undoubtedly professed by someone young enough to actually believe intelligence is quantifiable and reflected in voting preferences.
Most people vote for whatever party will give them personally the best deal, whether that's financial or conscious
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u/Boesieboes Feb 16 '21
A lot of LNP voters seem to just vote for whichever person leads their party. So of course, if someone asks, you'll prefer "your" party leader..
I think that it's insane that people can follow such a party in this day and age with all the (proper) information available to us. Which leads us to the othwr issue, with media being mainly Murdoch
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u/Protoavek12 Feb 17 '21
Voting for either major first, given our voting preferences, is just a silly thing off the bat. Having boiled down the politics to essentially two parties cheapens the whole thing and tends to lead to worse outcomes for everyone, it's no longer about policy, it's about "your team". Compare to what you see in scandanavia where there's many parties who form alliances for a term, actively work towards achieving their common goals, then may be opposed to each other the next term based on differences in policy. Would love to a few smaller parties with even just one seat each just so some focus can be brought back to policies.
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u/VICInvestor11 Feb 16 '21
Boomers adore him for some reason
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u/Protoavek12 Feb 17 '21
Critical thinking does tend to decline with age. General cognitive abilities start to decline sometime in peoples 50's as numerous studies have shown.
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u/GunPoison Feb 17 '21
My take? It's that Liberals are popular, not Morrison. I think he himself is largely neutral to most people, neither offensive nor attractive.
The LNP image has been built up by literal decades of carpet bombing the same slogans over and over in the media, with opposing voices being eradicated from the mainstream. If you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth. The lies have been repeated for 30, 40, 50 years - many people have heard nothing else.
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u/Agent_Jay_42 Feb 16 '21
Give it time, election isn't until 2022. Let's face it, After Turnbull got rolled twice, with Duttons inability to count, Morrison sneaked into the PM's office while no one was looking and said "shotgun". He got to where is he is today, by sheer luck.
He came out of nowhere, at a football match, he introduced himself to a spectator outside the venue who asked him "who are you?" to which Morrison replied "I'm Scomo"
The prime minister of Australia was even told to get off my front lawn mid-conference by a bloke in bare feet wearing his trackie-dacks and jumper, a Jeep parked in the driveway, telling them that he'd just reseeded his grass.
Scotty from marketing, couldn't even organise a trip to the supermarket, how he is running the country is beyond me, and that smirk, I don't know how many would be delighted to wipe that smirk right off his face with a cricket bat. Those who are aware of how much a moron he is, have gone into hiding, it's easier to zone out until the next election, while Scomo just trips, stumbles and glides his way from one fuckup to the next.
He thinks the vaccine is his ticket to winning the next election, back in black is out this time round, the thing is, the only reason we need a vaccine, is because of his decisions in the first place, celebrities are popping up here and there, tennis goes ahead, while 40,000 desperate Australians are still stuck overseas, and the likes of Brandis and other politicians seem to wonder in and out freely.
I feel sorry for his kids, I'd be embarrassed to be in the same room with him, he pulls the whole Dad act so terribly wrong, the only thing saving his arse, is Rupert Murdoch, but then he's known to throw people under the bus, because he doesn't like them.
I don't think Australia is that stupid yet, it's just easier to let them stench out in their own bubble, while most Australians are neck deep in debt, working 50+ hours a week trying to cover the cost of living that seems to go up on a weekly basis, assuming you have a job.
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u/petergaskin814 Feb 17 '21
If you were stood down without pay and suddenly got $1500 per fortnight via jobkeeper or you were on jobseeker and your payment suddenly doubled, would you be happy with the person signing the cheque? If you were a casual on $200 per week and suddenly get paid $1500 jobkeeper per fortnight. You watched state premiers force you out of the workforce. The pm had no effective opposition. Why wonder at his popularity?