This should come as no surprise to anyone with a pulse.
“….The Liberal Party is so demoralised by Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership that some in its upper echelons are now contemplating the previously unthinkable in the event of a shock election defeat: a return to Tony Abbott. Abbott ready if Turnbull stumbles
The situation inside the Liberal Party is so volatile that if it doesn’t win a convincing election victory — and at this stage the contest is too close to definitively call — the party will be engulfed in another bout of soul-destroying turmoil and Turnbull will be blamed.
I’ve been surprised at the extent of the despair in Liberal ranks. You don’t have to go very far to find it. Past and present MPs, party officials and staffers freely offer up criticisms of the Prime Minister and the Liberal campaign strategy unprompted. Many of these views are being aired on television, radio and social media, and in newspapers and magazines.
The pressing concern for Turnbull is the conservative revolt under way inside his own party. Many Liberal voters did not like the big spending, big taxing budget. They are seething over the retrospective changes to superannuation. They are appalled by suggestions the party would swap preferences with the Greens. And they are still smarting over the leadership coup.
It has even sparked a new movement of disaffected Liberals who say they won’t vote for the party at all, or who may register a protest vote in the Senate by temporarily switching their allegiance to the Liberal Democrats led by David Leyonhjelm….”