Apart from their opponent, Gillard, the theme most closely related to voting Liberal is "people". This is a frequent theme in Leximancer, and when I first encountered it Labor was  almost invariably associated with it. At that time I assumed that it indicated Labor was more grounded in people's needs. It's now beginning to look like it might be more a marker of opposition. When you are in government you are pushing ahead with your agenda, and resistance, of necessity, needs to be discounted. And when you are in opposition you are looking for reasons to oppose, and the effects of the government's policies on people is a very good reason to give.

The verbatims make clear some of these issues. One of the things that does strike me from them is that more of Gillard's supporters cite positive attributes than Abbott's, who are mostly reacting to government policy or to Gillard.

Abbott has the best interests of Australia and Australians at heart. Gillard is a power mongering, socialist ideologue, in the worst manner of failed European policies with climate change, socialism, IR.

Julia Gillard is the better choice between two very un-impressive & un-inspiring options. In the extremely difficult circumstances with a minority government and Abbott as a negative obstructionist rather than opposition leader, I think she needs & deserves time to achieve her government’s goals.

Gillard and Labor policies atre destroying this country and making it har for Aussies. Abbotts policies cut back on wasteful govt spending and he is against carbon tax and illegals

Gillard is a disaster on nearly every single policy front eg Carbon tax, boat people, live exports. At least Abbott wouldn't be half as bad.

Her priority is jobs, education health and the development of infrastructure via some quite large reforms that will, if fully implemented, make this a better, more competitive and ultimately more prosperous country. Where Tony Abbott is divisive, I see Julia Gillard as unifying (or at least attempting to be).

Gillard is focused on the job and has polcies she wishes to implement - Abbott is arratic and negative who is risky under pressure - Abbott is rarely questioned by the media and he seems to flee press conferences when the gong gets tough .

Whilst Tony Abbott is not the most popular choice it is difficult to be led by someone who came to power without being voted in by the people. In addition it is concerning that she so easily ’back stabbed’ her leader at the time she could easily turn her back on our nation which it seems she is doing little by little so we are unaware!

Given a choice between the two, I would select Tony Abbott and hope that Liberal policies come through and hope that his religious ideas get voted out. It's a gamble, but Julia Gillard is not doing the country any good at all.

Abbott is to adversorial in his approach and dicetertorial at times, whilst Gillard although she has strong views is still prepared to negotiate a common ground. It is better to achieve something by negation than nothing by sticking your head in the dand.

Mr Abbott has clearly illustrated the ethical basis of his arguments in developing policy, and I trust that would not change on his party forming a majority government. The present PM has proven herself to be untrustworthy.

Hopefully they will come to understand that what the media constantly refers to as her blandness, is in fact her quiet way of getting on with the business of making intelligent decisions while leading the country. I expect that history will find that she is in fact a better PM than either Hawke or Keating.

 

Abbott has the best interests of Australia and Australians at heart. Gillard is a power mongering, socialist ideologue, in the worst manner of failed European policies with climate change, socialism, IR. M 55-64

Julia Gillard is the better choice between two very un-impressive & un-inspiring options. In the extremely difficult circumstances with a minority government and Abbott as a negative obstructionist rather than opposition leader, I think she needs & deserves time to achieve her government’s goals. M 55-64

Gillard and Labor policies atre destroying this country and making it har for Aussies. Abbotts policies cut back on wasteful govt spending and he is against carbon tax and illegals M 45-54

Gillard is a disaster on nearly every single policy front eg Carbon tax, boat people, live exports. At least Abbott wouldn't be half as bad. M 25-34

Her priority is jobs, education health and the development of infrastructure via some quite large reforms that will, if fully implemented, make this a better, more competitive and ultimately more prosperous country. Where Tony Abbott is divisive, I see Julia Gillard as unifying (or at least attempting to be). M 55-64

Gillard is focused on the job and has polcies she wishes to implement - Abbott is arratic and negative who is risky under pressure - Abbott is rarely questioned by the media and he seems to flee press conferences when the gong gets tough . M 45-54

Whilst Tony Abbott is not the most popular choice it is difficult to be led by someone who came to power without being voted in by the people. In addition it is concerning that she so easily ’back stabbed’ her leader at the time she could easily turn her back on our nation which it seems she is doing little by little so we are unaware! F 25-34

Given a choice between the two, I would select Tony Abbott and hope that Liberal policies come through and hope that his religious ideas get voted out. It's a gamble, but Julia Gillard is not doing the country any good at all. F 55-64

Abbott is to adversorial in his approach and dicetertorial at times, whilst Gillard although she has strong views is still prepared to negotiate a common ground. It is better to achieve something by negation than nothing by sticking your head in the dand. M 65-74

Mr Abbott has clearly illustrated the ethical basis of his arguments in developing policy, and I trust that would not change on his party forming a majority government. The present PM has proven herself to be untrustworthy. M 55-64

Hopefully they will come to understand that what the media constantly refers to as her blandness, is in fact her quiet way of getting on with the business of making intelligent decisions while leading the country. I expect that history will find that she is in fact a better PM than either Hawke or Keating. F 65-74

 

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