New Qld poll shows ‘strong mood’ to dump Labor

The LNP’s primary vote has moved past 40 per cent for the first time ahead of next year’s election, with a shock new poll revealing support for the third-term Palaszczuk Government has collapsed.

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The LNP’s primary vote has moved past 40 per cent for the first time ahead of next year’s election, with a shock new poll revealing support for the third-term Palaszczuk government has sensationally collapsed among Queensland voters.

RedBridge Group research found an “emerging negative sentiment” about Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and the Labor Party, culminating in a “strong mood” for change.

The polling – conducted between August 26 and September 6, with a sample of 2012 Queenslanders – found Labor’s primary vote sat at just 26 per cent, with the Greens at 14 and the LNP surging ahead to 41.

The LNP was also ahead on a two-party preferred basis at 55-45.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

The result is the worse recorded for Labor this term, with a Resolve poll released last month finding Opposition Leader David Crisafulli had moved ahead as Queensland’s preferred Premier for the first time, and Ms Palaszczuk’s personal support among voters was falling.

That poll had the LNP primary vote sitting at 38 against Labor’s 32, while The Courier-Mail’s polling in May had the LNP’s first preferences at 39 per cent against Labor’s 33.

The RedBridge group poll found renters were almost equally split between the two major parties but were almost twice as likely to vote Green than homeowners.

But older renters were shifting away from Labor, while they were also losing significant ground to the Greens among voters aged 18-34. “The Palaszczuk government is losing altitude,” RedBridge Group director Tony Barry said.

With a growing Greens primary vote, Labor “are going to need a very effective preference strategy to be competitive at the next election”, he said.

“These negative associations are being fuelled by the issues of housing attainability, access to health care and crime, with soft voter assessments that the government has run out of ideas,” he said.

On Friday, every one of Ms Palaszczuk’s cabinet told The Courier-Mail they intended to contest the 2024 election – 13 of whom have been ministers since at least 2017 – and that they backed Ms Palaszczuk to lead them.

Speculation had been rife some of the Cabinet’s longer-serving members would opt not to run in 2024, including Education Minister Grace Grace.

Ms Grace faces a fight in her inner-city Brisbane seat of McConnel, which is seen as a chance to fall to the Greens.

Recently asked whether she wanted to be Premier or Deputy Premier, she said: “Definitely not. I’m very happy with the leadership.”

But she insisted she also wanted “to continue on”.

Police Minister Mark Ryan – who has served in the role since 2016 and was first elected in 2009 – said he too would look to be re-elected next year.

He said he “strongly supports” Premier Palaszczuk.

“She is my leader and she is an outstanding person of exceptional character who cares for Queenslanders,” he said.