With two weeks until election day, exclusive focus group testing of Bill Shorten and Scott Morrison and their policies reveals worrying signs for both major parties.
The Ipsos focus group research featured voters from Western Sydney aged under 45 who voted Liberal in 2016 but are now undecided
The second focus group featured Melburnians aged over 45 in marginal seats, all of whom voted Labor in 2016 but are now undecided
Sydney swing voters were more positive on Scott Morrison than Melburnians
Both Sydney and Melbourne swing voters had negative views of Bill Shorten's union roots
Typically, big queues outside polling booths early on election day don't bode well for the incumbent. It usually means the voters want change, as was the case in 2007 and 2013, the last two occasions in which a government was removed from office.
With the advent of pre-poll voting, the modern equivalent of the big queues may be people voting early in large numbers. That has certainly been the case this time. The polls opened on Monday and by Thursday, a record 510,000 of the 16 million enrolled voters had cast a ballot.
Loading...
Phillip Coorey is the political editor based in Canberra. He is a two-time winner of the Paul Lyneham award for press gallery excellence. Connect with Phillip on Facebook and Twitter. Email Phillip at pcoorey@afr.com
