Australia’s former party leaders have topped the political personalities featured in the annual survey of the country’s most trusted people.
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Malcolm Turnbull was the most trusted politician at number 68, followed closely by Kevin Rudd at 70, in the poll issued by Reader’s Digest on Tuesday.
Rated from one to 10 based on qualities such as responsibility and dependability, the current party leaders lagged behind with Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott and Prime Minister Julia Gillard ranking 75 and 95 respectively.
The survey results come one day after the latest Age/Nielsen poll, which also ranked the former party leaders ahead of Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott.
The Nielson poll reported by Fairfax Media found Mr Rudd personally more popular than Ms Gillard, at 58 per cent to 32 per cent support. Mr Turnbull was also reported as popular among all voters as Mr Abbott, at 62 per cent to 32 per cent.
The Reader’s Digest poll of more than 1200 people also featured Labor politician Bill Shorten at 90, followed by fellow party members Wayne Swan and Stephen Conroy at 92 and 93 respectively.
Greens leader Christine Milne was ranked at 94, followed by Craig Thompson and Peter Slipper at 98 and 99 respectively.
The poll of Australia’s most trusted people was topped by neurosurgeon Charlie Teo, followed by burns specialist Dr Fiona Wood and cancer vaccine immunologist Ian Frazer.
A separate survey was also conducted to determine the top 50 trusted professions.
Politicians were ranked at 49, lagging behind talkback radio hosts and call centre staff.
Paramedics and firefighters topped the list together, while door-to-door salespeople ranked last at 50.
