New Zealand Celsias

There is no easy path ahead for Julia Gillard and her recently announced plans for a carbon price in Australia. She needs to be certain that the coalition that she is leading will not fall apart.There has been a sharp fall in the past two months amongst almost every constituency for the carbon tax. An opinion poll commissioned by the Australian shows that 60 per cent of voters are opposed to the government's plan to put a price on carbon next year and only 30 per cent remain in favour. 

The latest Newspoll survey shows that voters are not only against the carbon tax on a ratio of two-to-one, but that opposition to the plan is far more intense than the support for it. Of the 60 per cent opposed to the carbon tax, 39 per cent are "strongly against", but of the 30 per cent for the plan only 12 per cent are "strongly in favour".

Ms Gillard yesterday vowed to press head with the carbon tax plan despite poor polling and the campaign from the Opposition Leader. "I'm interested in the policy cycle not the political cycle," and later "It's a marathon , not a sprint" Ms Gillard said.

Responding to a Newspoll survey in The Australian yesterday, which showed Labor's primary vote at 33 per cent and her own satisfaction rating at a new low of 38 per cent, Ms Gillard conceded she had "a lot of hard work to do as Prime Minister".But also added in Adelaide "I've well and truly got the courage of my convictions and I will be out there providing the leadership necessary as we tackle this big reform"

The feeling against carbon tax has intensified. A Newspoll survey in December 2010 found that voters were evenly split with  47 per cent in favour and 49 per cent against.

 After the Government's carbon tax announcement in March , opposition jumped to 53 per cent and support fell to 42 per cent.

In that survey, 59 per cent of ALP voters still supported the carbon price and younger voters and the family belt were evenly split, with those over 50 being most opposed at 60 per cent.The most recent poll showed  overall opposition to the carbon pricing plan was 60 per cent and support was down to 30 per cent after big jumps in opposition among younger voters, families and Labor Party supporters.

The Newspoll survey shows that the 35-49 age group - the group most likely to have families and mortgages - has overtaken older voters as the group most opposed to the carbon tax, with 64 per cent against and 30 per cent in favour. 

Most surprisingly , in the younger age group( voters aged 18-34), those who one might expect to be most aware of climate change a clear majority of 55 per cent were opposed to the carbon plan, with 32 per cent in favour. Tony Abbott, long time opponent of anything to do with climate change is loving every minute of it.

Labor voters were split, with 49 per cent supporting and 41 per cent against the plan.