Shannon Deery: New sign voters are seeing through government spin
A Coalition win come November 26 is an unlikely possibility, but worryingly for Labor, Matthew Guy’s messaging is cutting through.
Opinion
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With early voting opening on Monday, new polling shows the 2022 election race is closer than thought.
It will buoy Coalition spirits and may increase nervous concern in the ALP.
For much of the past four years the Coalition has been seen as everything from not fit to govern, to missing in action.
It has not been seen as a viable alternative government.
Even among their own, many, at times even most, have been privately resigned to another stint on the opposition benches.
That has been fuelled by rampant instability, internal feuding, leadership challenges and a drink-drive scandal.
Monday’s polling suggests that Matthew Guy has been able to push through that to at least make a show of it.
It also suggests voters are now seeing through government spin.
Make no mistake, a Coalition win on November 26 remains the least likely possibility. Everything, and then some, would have to fall Guy’s way to give him a shot at forming a government.
But for the first time since he regained the leadership of the Victorian Liberal Party in September it now appears to be a possibility.
That almost 70 per cent of voters polled believe he is the man to fix Victoria’s health crisis suggests he is now seen as a potential premier.
It might be as close as Guy gets to the top job.
But his message is cutting through and voters also back his decision to shelve the Suburban Rail Loop, including those expected to benefit in Melbourne’s southeast.
Worryingly for Labor, voters appear to have lost faith in Daniel Andrews to look after their health needs.
Health is bread and butter stuff for the ALP.
So much so that Guy has copped internal criticism over the decision to run with the health issue so consistently.
Some say such a focus on one issue has come at the cost of building a proper narrative that voters can get behind.
Others fear the issue has dominated to such an extent that cost of living, seen as far more important to voters, has been largely ignored.
But will it matter?
If voters have lost faith in Andrews to fix health, will they back him to fix our debt crisis and ease cost-of-living pressures? What both major parties should be concerned about is the continued decrease in their primary vote.Voter dissatisfaction is benefiting minor parties and independents, which means that whoever wins, the fight might just be starting.
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Originally published as Shannon Deery: New sign voters are seeing through government spin
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