Voters in the Western Australian seat of Canning have expressed mixed reactions to the dumping of Tony Abbott for Prime Minister-designate Malcolm Turnbull, with many voicing concern about political instability in the country's corridors of power.

Canning will head to the polls this weekend in a by-election after sitting MP Don Randall died in office earlier this year.

Mr Randall held the seat with a comfortable 11.8 per cent majority, but polls have predicted a swing against the Liberal Party.

Meadow Springs resident Elyse Casserly said while the leadership change would not alter how she votes, she thought Malcolm Turnbull was a better option for the Liberal Party.

"I actually like him [Malcolm Turnbull]. I think he's really good," Ms Casserly, 35, said.

"[But] I think that he stands for an ideology, and he's in charge of the party, and unless he can change the way the party operates, I don't think it makes much difference at all.

"From my own personal standpoint, it doesn't change the way I'm going to vote, because he's one person. As far as I'm concerned he's just able to deliver the bad news better than Tony Abbott."

Canning voter Debbie Henshaw will vote for Labor because of the Liberal's leadership spill. ( ABC News: Marcus Alborn )

Debbie Henshaw, 55, from Falcon, said the decision to dump Mr Abbott meant she would now give her vote to Labor candidate Matthew Keogh.

"I can't believe that they would spill the leadership when the by-election's coming up," she said.

"Basically that just handed my vote to the other guy.

"I was going to donkey and now I'm giving it to Labor."

Canning voter Jason Rowbottom said people had not been given the chance to choose a leader. ( ABC News: Marcus Alborn )

Jason Rowbottom, from the suburb of Bouvard, was also disappointed by another leadership change.

People haven't been given the opportunity to elect a leader, I suppose, again," Mr Rowbottom, 45, said.

"It's happened on a number of occasions now.

"They [Canberra politicians] seem to be more interested in fighting amongst themselves than dealing with issues for the community and country.

"I will have to vote in the by-election, I suppose.

"I just think they have got a responsibility if they are in government, and I don't think they're really living up to that responsibility.

"[They are] more involved in internal politics than the greater governing of the country."

Armadale businessman Paul Harrison employs 90 people and believes he has a reasonable sense of the public mood.

"People in this area are very parochial about Armadale and the Canning area, and what actually happens, this is their little world, what happens everywhere else doesn't really matter," he said.

He said if Mr Turnbull wanted to retain the seat of Canning, he needed to come to Perth.

"I think he needs to get over here, throw support behind the area," he said.

"We just need to be [convinced] that things that we need down here to create wealth of employment [will] happen.

"Otherwise [there will] definitely ... be a backlash."

Veteran Western Australian political commentator Peter Kennedy said unemployment and the collapse of the mining boom could be a factor in the by-election.

"There are a fair number of fly-in, fly-out workers in the Armadale and south of Armadale area, so they would be affected," he said.

"There'd be probably a bit of less spending money around, and I think that unemployment has moved up marginally.

"So the mining boom has had a general effect and I suspect perhaps Canning might be a little bit more affected than most other areas because of the mining slow down."