Australians trust Jacinda Ardern more than any Aussie politician - and there’s bad news for Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten
- Australians trust New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern more than Australian pollies
- Female politicians were seen as more believable and better leaders than men
- Ardern got 77 in the believability index while major party leaders were below 50
Australian voters trust New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern far more than any Aussie politician - as it's revealed female candidates are more 'believable' than men.
The country's leader was 24 points more trustworthy than the most believable Australian politician, according to the 2019 leadership edition of the 'Believability Index' by OPR.
Ardern scored 77 out of 100 while prime minister Scott Morrison scored 43 and Bill Shorten scored 42.
The top four positions were all taken by women with Senator Penny Wong in second, Julie Bishop in third and Deputy Leader of the Opposition Tanya Plibersek in fourth.
The NZ PM was 24 points more believable than the most believable Australian politician, according to the 2019 leadership edition of the Belivability Index by OPR
'What’s clear is that Australians see our female candidates as having much greater leadership strength and believability than their male counterparts,' the report said
The most believable Australian politician was Senator Wong with 53 points, closely followed by Julie Bishop with 52 and Tanya Plibersek with 50.
'What’s clear is that Australians see our female candidates as having much greater leadership strength and believability than their male counterparts,' the report said.
Share this article
Politicians and business people were assessed across six 'dimensions of believability' by 1400 people in March and April.
The dimensions were relevance, integrity, affinity, commitment, shared values and follow through - with integrity being the most important.
Tony Abbott, Peter Dutton and Clive Palmer all performed poorly in integrity and were the least believable politicians with scores of 36, 34 and 30, respectively.
Prime minister Scott Morrison (left) and Labor leader Bill Shorten (right) were neck and neck in the believability index. Mr Morrison beat out Shorten by one point
The dimensions of believability were relevance, integrity, affinity, commitment, shared values and follow through - with integrity being the most important
Greens Party leader Richard Di Natale scored 45 and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson scored 44, both beating out the major party leaders.
Anthony Albanese scored 46 to beat Shorten by four points, suggesting Labor may have backed the wrong horse in the 2013 party leadership election.
Australians even found business leaders more believable than politicians.
ABC Chairwoman Ita Buttrose scored 64 points.
Former Fortescue CEO Twiggy scored 53, tying with Senator Wong.
ABC Chairwoman Ita Buttrose (pictured) scored 64 points, 11 more the most trusted Australian politician Penny Wong
Australians even found business leaders more believable than politicians
