Voters slam Anthony Albanese for failing to tackle cost of living, brand him a ‘weak beta male’

Voters have branded Prime Minister Anthony Albanese weak for failing to tackle cost of living, describing him as “bland” and a “beta male”. It comes as support for the ALP government falls across the country.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is seen as weak for his failure to tackle cost-of-living rises, with voters branding him “bland” and a “beta male” who “wants to be liked but without making strong decisions”.

Pollster RedBridge last week conducted focus groups for News Corp comprising soft voters in the urban Queensland electorates of Brisbane, Griffith and Ryan, and the South Australian seats of Sturt and Boothby.

The comments from participants about the performance of Mr Albanese were devastating and reflect the 5 per cent drop in Labor’s primary vote to 31 per cent recorded by Newspoll since the Voice crashed at the ballot box in October.

“He hasn’t really addressed cost of living and I get there’s global factors at play but I don’t think he’s done much concrete action on it,” was the verdict of one voter.

Another said, “he doesn’t come across as strong. He seems like he wants to be liked but without making strong decisions”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman

The most devastating verdict came from a Queensland voter who said: “He’s not a leader, he’s a follower. He’s a beta male”.

The consistent complaint across all the groups was that the federal government hasn’t done enough to tackle the cost-of-living crisis. “I just don’t see a lot of action on cost-of-living pressures. He’s missing in action and now he’s running off overseas again,” one voter said, while another complained, “the belt is getting tighter and tighter but there’s no action”.

Anthony Albanese campaigning for the Voice earlier this year. Picture: Seb Haggett

RedBridge Director Tony Barry said he had been shocked at the personal nature of the findings, and the fact that support for the Prime Minister and government was ageing so prematurely.

He said the results from the focus groups of roughly a dozen voters were consistent with others he had held and matched deteriorating support for Labor.

A consistent complaint against Mr Albanese is that he appears weak.

One voter said: “He’s bland, he plays on Australian colloquialisms and wears that bloody Rabbitohs cap, it makes me cringe. It looks so staged.”

The only consolation for the PM is that according to one voter “he’s the lesser of two evils”, and Labor was seen as “still dealing with all the debt” that the previous government left”.

Another said: “I only see worse and worser in politics now. Albanese is worse but not worser.”

Mr Barry said that the most important attributes to voters were honesty, vision, empathy, hope, strength and shared values with the electorate.

“The Prime Minister’s performance isn’t currently demonstrating those attributes,” he said.

He said strong leadership was a key attribute in times of crisis because voters need to have confidence that a prime minister had the courage to make tough decisions.

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