New poll reveals more Australians believe they will be worse off in five years

A new poll reveals how Australian voters feel about their future, with where they live having a dramatic impact on their outlook.

More Australians believe they will be worse off in five years time compared to where they were before the pandemic, with people in the outer suburbs twice as likely to be pessimistic about their future.

Only about 24 per cent of voters think they will have a better standard of living by 2030, while 41 per cent believe they will be either “worse” or “much worse,” and 25 per cent feel they would be about the same as they are now, according to a new Redbridge poll conducted for News Corp.

Where a person lives had a dramatic impact on their outlook, with those in inner cities having net negative opinion of -11 compared to in the outer suburbs where that rate was doubled to -22.

Queenslanders were more pessimistic than people in NSW or Victoria, while unsurprisingly a whopping 68 per cent of Australians who considered themselves in “a great deal” of financial stress had a negative opinion about where they would be in five years time.

Young people aged 18 to 34 were far more likely to be optimistic, with Australians aged 50 to 64 the most likely to feel they would be worse off. Australians intending to vote Labor were overall more positive about the future, while those planning to vote for the Coalition, Greens or other third parties were more likely to be negative.

Independent economist Saul Eslake said the current cost of living offerings from both Labor and the Coalition were so far only “little things” which will provide “temporary” relief.

But he said in five years time if people are still feeling worse off, not all of the blame could be put on Anthony Albanese or Peter Dutton.

“It wouldn’t be the fault of either side, it would be Donald Trump’s,” he said, given how the US President’s policy decisions had up-ended financial markets.

Donald Trump is partly to blame for how Australians feel about their future. Picture: AP

It comes as peak bodies on the frontline of the cost-of-living crisis are pushing for Labor and the Coalition to raise welfare payments instead of “whack-a-mole” policies targeting energy bills, petrol prices and other expenses

Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) chief strategy officer Edwina MacDonald said both sides were talking about cost of living in the lead up to the election, but failing to deliver solutions that helped those who need it most.

“People on Jobseeker are 14 times more likely to go without one substantial meal a day. (We want them to lift) Jobseeker, youth allowance and similar types of payments to at least $82 a day which is in line with the pension,” she said.

“That’s a priority if we are actually serious about supporting people … ongoing relief would make a transformative change.”

Ms MacDonald also called for more investment in social housing and expanding Labor’s home battery subsidy plan to cover all social housing, private rentals and low income renters.

Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) chief Luke Achterstraat said he would like to see struggling businesses supported with a tax cut from 25 per cent to 20 per cent.

“It would provide immediate relief … we need to support small businesses,” he said.

‘The cost of doing business and the cost of living are interrelated.’

Originally published as New poll reveals more Australians believe they will be worse off in five years