RedBridge poll: Support for Voice to Parliament dropped 5pc in a month

An exclusive new poll has found that support for the Voice to Parliament is in ‘freefall’, and is now below 40 per cent in every state except one.

Support for the Voice to Parliament is in “freefall”, having dropped 5 per cent in a month, and is now below 40 per cent in every state except Victoria.

The RedBridge poll, taken in the first week of September after Anthony Albanese announced October 14 as the referendum day, found only 39 per cent of people said they planned to vote Yes for the constitutional amendment, while 61 per cent planned to vote No.

RedBridge’s results for the Voice are particularly stark because, unlike other pollsters, it forces respondents to make a choice between Yes and No, rather than saying they are undecided.

But these results are almost identical to a Freshwater Strategy poll taken last week that found the No case ahead 59 per cent to 41 per cent when undecided voters were excluded.

According to this poll, 15 per cent of voters still could not say which way they would vote, or which way they were leaning. But it found 50 per cent of voters declared they planned to vote No, compared to 35 per cent who planned to vote Yes.

Both polls found that while Coalition voters were overwhelmingly likely to follow Peter Dutton’s lead and vote No, Labor voters were much less impressed with the position adopted by the Prime Minister.

RedBridge found only 57 per cent of Labor voters planned to vote Yes, while Freshwater found 53 per cent of them supported a Voice, with 32 per cent against and 15 per cent undecided.

Labor voters are not necessarily following Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's (left) lead to vote Yes for the Voice, but Coalition voters are heeding the No message from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

RedBridge director Tony Barry said the Yes23 campaign was “now in freefall”, with time running out to turn it around.

“The Yes23 campaign keep briefing the media that they are taking their campaign to the suburbs and regions, but then they pivot back to media stunts with corporates, celebrities or former senior politicians who previously opposed it,” he said.

“The No campaign is showing greater message discipline by repeatedly referring to the proposal as the ‘Canberra Voice’ because their research is presumably showing it is a persuasive message that moves soft voters into their column.”

He said it was ironic that the Yes23 campaign’s activities were effectively supporting the No campaign’s message.

“Attaching your campaign to a toxic brand like Qantas and one of the most disliked CEOs in the country might work if you are pitching your message to the members of the Chairman’s Lounge, but in suburban and regional Australia it goes down like a cup of sick,” he said.

Freshwater director Mike Turner, who in the past has worked as a pollster for the Coalition, said the low support for the Voice by its voters should be worrying Labor.

“The key thing for the government is a third of Labor voters have now committed to No,” he said. “What started out as a dangerous wedge for the ­opposition is now turning into a nightmare for the ­government.”

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Originally published as RedBridge poll: Support for Voice to Parliament dropped 5pc in a month