Voters don’t punish Liberals for infighting, but Albanese on notice over rising costs: poll
When asked to name the policy most important to them, 42 percent chose “keeping the cost of living low.” No other exports reached double digits.
According to findings for the Albanian government, 42 percent of voters blame the federal government most for the rising cost of living, up from 36 percent in October 2024: 7 percent blame businesses, 7 percent blame the Central Bank, 11 percent blame state governments, 16 percent blame global factors, and 14 percent are undecided.
Tenacious Pollster Jim Reed said cost pressures were the dominant issue and that would not change until prices fell, but said the Coalition would not make significant progress until they “got their own house in order – which just means a united team working together to hold the government to account and deliver the alternative policy agenda – only their rusty base will stick with them”.
Labor could still win comfortably in the current polls, but the Coalition is within one percentage point of the government on key issues such as managing the economy, managing finances and keeping living costs low. Both parties are trending just under 30 percent.
When asked if they could afford a major expense costing several thousand dollars, such as a new refrigerator or a major car repair, 61 percent of people agreed or strongly agreed that they would have a hard time paying for it; In December 2024, this rate increased sharply to 50 percent; 24 percent disagreed (36 percent in December 2024) and 15 percent were undecided (14 percent in December 2024).
Seventy per cent of those surveyed agreed they would spend less at Christmas this year; 71 percent agreed to buy fewer or cheaper gifts; 63 percent of people think it is harder to make a living now than it was a year ago.
Voters were not overly optimistic about Australia’s near-future economic outlook.
Only 20 percent said the outlook would improve over the next six months, 29 percent said it would remain the same, and 42 percent said it would get worse. Next year, 25 percent of people said the outlook would improve and 42 percent said it would get worse.
In the two-party-driven vote based on poll respondents’ preferences, Labor dropped two points and the Coalition gained two points to now sit at 53-47. This is a drop from last month’s 55-45 result, which coincided with election day when Labor won a record 94 seats in the lower house, and from the government’s record high of 59-41 in September.
The survey, which included 1804 participants, was conducted between November 4 and 8. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.3 percent.
The increase in the coalition’s primary and two-party preferred votes comes despite a month of bitter fighting between the two major opposition parties over support for Australia’s net-zero emissions target by 2050 and a small decline in support for Sussan Ley.
The Liberal Party will return to Canberra this week to hammer out the final details of the party’s net zero policy, with growing expectations that the party will cancel or delay its commitment to net zero by 2050.
Ley took a big hit to his personal performance rating in last month’s poll after he lost two frontbenchers and internal party fights became public.
And after a series of missteps in recent weeks that saw the prime minister call for Kevin Rudd to be sacked as US ambassador; accused Albanese of wearing an anti-Semitic Joy Division t-shirt; and when he accused the government of halting his visit to the Tomago smelter, his net performance rating fell from minus five to minus seven percent.
