Labor leader Bill Shorten’s approval rating has taken a hit after his gruelling two-day appearance before the trade union royal commission last week.



An Essential poll published on Tuesday recorded a five-point drop in Shorten’s approval rating and a seven-point rise in his disapproval rating since June.

The opposition leader gained approval from only 27% of the voters surveyed, while 52% disapproved. This is his worst personal result in the Essential poll since becoming opposition leader.

While Labor frontbenchers have moved to characterise the royal commission as an unfair witch hunt, Shorten also was marked down in the survey by Labor voters. Fifty per cent of Labor voters said they approved of the job Shorten was doing (down 8%) and 29% disapproved (up 6%).

Shorten’s approval rating has been trending steadily downwards in Essential since June last year, and his disapproval rating has been climbing since his budget-in-reply speech in May.

While Shorten’s personal approval ratings slumped notably month-on-month, the poll’s two-party-preferred measure has been steady, within a point, over the same period of time, giving Labor a clear lead over the Coalition.

Labor this week maintained a four-point lead on the Abbott government, 52% to 48%.

Tony Abbott’s ratings also took a hit in the new poll, but the thumbs down from voters was not as emphatic as Shorten’s. Abbott’s approval rating dropped two points in a month to 37% and his disapproval was up three points to 53%.

Abbott remains ahead of Shorten as preferred prime minister.

In the trade union royal commission witness box last week, the Labor leader revealed that a labour hire company had paid the salary of his campaign director for the federal seat of Maribyrnong in 2007, but he had failed to declare the donation until a couple of days before his appearance at the royal commission.

Counsel assisting the royal commission Jeremy Stoljar accused Shorten of presiding over a system of “bogus” invoices under which employers paid the Australian Workers Union money for services that were not delivered. Shorten denied that accusation.

He also faced questions about conflicts of interest. Stoljar said it was a conflict of interest for the AWU to accept payments from employers while at the same time bargaining on behalf of employees in enterprise agreements.

Shorten rejected that analysis, suggesting he was capable of managing different interests simultaneously.