Why Peter FitzSimons thinks Scott Morrison now has a chance of WINNING the election

Prominent columnist Peter FitzSimons has explained why he thinks Scott Morrison still has a chance to remain prime minister – as polls show a tightening election race in the final days of the campaign.

FitzSimons’ views were revealed when he responded to a tweet claiming the latest Resolve Poll for Nine-Fairfax papers was biased as it showed the Liberal Party clawing back ground on Labor. 

The columnist said that while polls vary, he’s sure the election race had ‘tightened considerably’ in the past few days.

The ex-Wallaby claimed Mr Morrison’s rebrand in recent days saw him repositioning himself as the ‘champion’ of the recent trials the nation had experienced in the past three years. 

FitzSimons asked twitter users if they also thought the election race had tightened during the week

Asked by a follower why the polls would tighten at the end of the election campaign, Mr FitzSimons said Mr Morrison had successfully moved the attention of voters away from his poor handling of a range of issues. 

‘Because in these crucial final days, the PM has managed to shift the whole conversation away from the crippling need for a Federal ICAC, trips to Hawaii, floods, Covid-response, vaccine stroll-out, and to home ownership – with him positioned as the champion of it,’ he argued. 

FitzSimons claimed the Prime Minister had repositioned himself as the ‘champion’ of the last few years despite claims he had mishandled major issues

FitzSimons’ claims echoed the angle pursued by Tracy Grimshaw in her grilling of the PM after Mr Morrison claimed to have saved the country. 

The A Current Affair host delivered a scathing assessment of Mr Morrison’s prime ministerial term when she brutally listed all of his key blunders during an interview on Tuesday night.

‘You said on Sunday that you saved the country, (but) you didn’t hold a hose (during the bushfires), you weren’t in your tinny plucking people off rooftops (during the floods in New South Wales and Queensland) and you didn’t do 16 hour days in PPE on Covid-19 wards,’ she fumed.

A fuming Tracy Grimshaw (pictured) told the Prime Minister that he hadn’t saved the country as he claimed he did, listing a series of gaffes during his term

The A Current Affair host asked the PM (pictured): ‘Do you think maybe you slightly over-egged the part about saving the country?’

‘You didn’t have enough vaccines, you didn’t get enough RAT tests so we could finally have a holiday interstate for Christmas and China are set up, based in the Solomon Islands….do you think maybe you slightly over-egged the part about saving the country?’

But the latest Resolve Political Monitor poll shows the PM’s most recent rebrand may be working to swing some voters, a week after he promised he’d change his style and admitted to being a ‘bit of a bulldozer’ as a leader.

The poll shows the Labor party diving below the LNP in first preferences as election day approaches.

Mr Morrison (pictured) has promised to change his ‘bulldozer’ style in a major late-campaign concession 

Mr Morrison leads as preferred prime minister in the poll, with 40 per cent of those surveyed thinking he’d be better in the top job. Anthony Albanese was preferred by 36 per cent of those polled, with 24 per cent still undecided.

The poll also showed relentless political advertising targeting Labor’s economic management from the coalition could be working with 40 per cent thinking the Coalition would perform better in economic management.

The poll also revealed 86 per cent had committed to who they would vote for, with the rest still yet to make up their mind ahead of final voting on Saturday.

The Guardian’s final Essential Poll also shows the race tightening over the final stretch, with the ALP leading with inner-city and large regional city voters, but the Coalition preferred by outer-suburban and rural voters.