'It's the economy, stupid'. Or is it?

So is it: “The workplace”, that is the key issue swinging voters to Labor?

If the polls are to be believed there certainly is some merit in that argument.

The most recent Newspoll specifically measured voters’ attitudes to the current industrial relations debate and respective policy positions.

Disturbingly for the government, it found only 12 per cent of voters were more likely to vote for the government following this month’s softening of the WorkChoices industrial relations package. Slightly more voters, 15 per cent, indicated it would make them less likely to support the Coalition. By contrast, 29 per cent of voters indicated they were more likely to support Labor following the announcement of its “Fair Work Australia” policy.

Certainly the media, commentators, unions and the Labor Party have jumped on these recent poll results to claim this explains the massive lead Labor has in the polls despite the strong economy.

In their mind, the slogan is: “It’s the workplace, stupid.” But is it just this? A closer look at Newspoll reveals two other interesting figures.

When voters were asked about the Coalition’s industrial relations changes, a full 68 per cent indicated it would make no difference to how they voted. And 52 per cent of voters said Labor’s policy made no difference to they way they would vote.

That appears to be an awful lot of people who are not making up their minds on who to vote for at the forthcoming elections based on the respective party’s industrial relations policies.

Sure, industrial relations has risen as a key issues for voters in recent months, but it’s not the sole reason for the troubles facing Howard and his government.

Two other oft-quoted campaign slogans might also be worth examining.

“It’s time”. After eleven years of Howard, are voters relaxed and comfortable enough to give the other lot a turn?

Howard and Costello’s constant reminder of the “bad old days of Labor” may well be falling on deaf ears for a large proportion of the electorate. For a start, any voter under the age of 32 has never voted in a Federal election where Labor won, let alone be old enough to have had mortgages when interest rates were at their historic highs in the late 1980s.