Honest, strong or wise? What you want from your prime minister

In a survey conducted by ACM, publisher of this masthead and more than 100 titles, 7894 respondents were asked to identify their preferred prime minister, alongside traits they wanted to see in their leaders.

While the survey is not a poll, readers ranked Anthony Albanese first (38 per cent), but not by much, with 35 per cent picking Peter Dutton, while more than a quarter (27 per cent) wished for another option to lead the country.

Senior lecturer at the ANU's School of Politics and International Relations Jill Sheppard said the results highlight a trend in Australian politics.

"Given the choice, most voters would really rather anyone than the candidates that are being put [forward] for them," Dr Sheppard said.

"And that's a sort of intractable problem of Australian politics, that the people who become leaders of their parties do so and they stay there because they are the best equipped at keeping the party together.

"These leaders are doing objectively great jobs, but still almost a third of us just want someone else, they would rather this sort of black box candidate than the two that were offered."

Colleen Lewis, an honorary professor at the ANU's Australian Studies Institute, said readers' views highlight a frustration with the major parties that helped drive independents into Parliament in 2022.

"I think it looks good then for the independents, because it is highlighting why they won so many votes in the last election, and there's every chance that they may well do so again," she said.

Sixty per cent of readers placed honesty and trustworthiness in their top three qualities for a prime minister, while a vision for the future was also highly rated (49 per cent), followed by the desire to see a strong and decisive figure in the top job (42 per cent).

Only 2 per cent of readers surveyed said they wanted their prime minister to be likable.

Zeroing in what readers wanted out of a leader, based on their preferred prime minister, a picture begins to form of how supporters of Mr Dutton and Mr Albanese perceive them.

Those in favour of a Dutton government wanted a strong and decisive leader (77 per cent) who is honest and trustworthy (53 per cent) and has a vision for the future (44 per cent).

Mr Albanese's supporters were more likely to want honesty and trustworthiness (64 per cent), followed by a vision for the future (55 per cent) and intelligence (24 per cent).

Readers who desired an alternative leader seemed to want a blend of the two candidates, valuing honesty and trustworthiness highly (63 per cent) alongside a vision for the future (48 per cent) and strength and decisiveness (33 per cent).

Dr Sheppard said these results say more about readers' worldviews than they do about who Mr Dutton and Mr Albanese are.

"I don't think they're necessarily evaluating leaders based on what they know about them. They're kind of projecting what they would like to see as much as anything," she said.

"But saying that, you've got two leaders here who really buy into those stereotypes about what a Liberal leader and what a Labor leader looks like."

With US President Donald Trump disrupting the global order, including by imposing tariffs on steel and aluminium, readers were asked who they trusted most to manage Australia's relationship with the US.

Mr Dutton was considered best to manage Mr Trump, but only by a small margin - 36 per cent, compared to 31 per cent who picked Mr Albanese.

The survey was conducted before Mr Trump lashed out at former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull this week, calling his leadership "weak and ineffective", after Mr Turnbull said China would aim to take advantage of the US President's behaviour.

"One of the reasons that the Liberals will be feeling so nervous about that is because at the moment, it is a real area of strength for them, that they are perceived to have a better relationship with Trump and with the US Republicans," Dr Sheppard said.

"When you have Turnbull on the sidelines, undermining that confidence that voters currently have, that can be a real problem."