From battlers to basket weavers: A guide to Australia’s voter types

From battlers to basket weavers, Australian politics has produced a rich vocabulary to describe different voter groups. Some are simple tags, like protest voter or disenchanted voter. Others draw on gender, social class, occupation, cultural traits and even location.

When Australians cast their ballots on May 3, attention will finally switch from campaigning politicians to the nation’s diverse array of electors.

These are some key types of voters likely to turn up at polling booths and feature in the post-election analysis.

Swinging Voters

Some swinging voters feel they are making a more informed decision.Credit: Matt Davidson

Back in the mid-1980s, more than 60 per cent of voters said they always cast a ballot for the same party. By the 2022 election, that had fallen to 37 per cent, the lowest share to date according to the Australian Election Study, which has surveyed voters after each election since 1987.

The upshot? More Australians consider themselves swinging voters than ever before.

Griffith University’s Dr Sarah Cameron, a chief investigator on the study, says the electorate has become more volatile over time.

“We have seen political partisanship reach record lows,” she says. “Voters are increasingly detached from political parties, switching their votes from election to election, and making up their minds closer to election day. These are all signs of a more volatile electorate.”

Social researcher Rebecca Huntley says many people like the idea of being a swinging voter.

“It seems like they are making an informed decision,” she says.

Even so, putting a precise figure on the share of genuine swing voters – those who regularly switch their ballot between parties – is tricky.

John Black, a former Labor senator who is now executive chairman of demographic analysis firm Australian Development Strategies, estimates the proportion to be about one in four voters. “In some electorates, it’s only 5 to 10 per cent, and those tend to be the more stable seats.”

Adding to the volatility is a growing disenchantment with major parties. In the 2007 federal election, 86 per cent of first preference votes went to Labor or the Coalition; by 2022, that share had dropped to 68 per cent.

There is evidence that swing voters are more likely to be influenced by party leadership than other voters.

Aspirationals

Aspirational voters tend to live in the suburbs, are paying off a mortgage and often have children in non-government schools.Credit: Matt Davidson

When Scott Morrison led the Coalition to an unexpected election win in 2019, many attributed the result to the ALP’s failure to appeal to aspirational voters. According to this line of argument, Morrison’s message of ambitious individualism resonated with this group.

The aspirationals epithet, often linked to swinging voters, describes those who prioritise economic and social advancement for themselves and their families over more abstract political causes such as fairness or social equity.

Black says they tend to live in the suburbs, are paying off a mortgage and often have children in non-government schools.

“They are people who want a better life for their kids than they had themselves and are prepared to work hard to achieve it,” he says.

Some are more sceptical about typecasting certain voters as aspirational. “Has there ever been a voter that doesn’t have aspirations?” asks Huntley.

But Labor’s Anthony Albanese acknowledged that “it appeared as though we were anti-aspirational” at the 2019 election and has frequently referred to the aspirations of voters since becoming Prime Minister.

“Australia’s future is about your future,” Albanese said in a speech to the National Press Club in January. “Because it’s your effort and sacrifice and aspiration that powers our economy and nourishes our society. And that effort should bring you fair reward.”

Battlers

Howard’s battlers were suspicious of high migration levels, worried about terrorism and often held socially conservative views.Credit: Matt Davidson

New voter categories can emerge when a distinctive social group appears to shift political allegiance. An example came in 1996 when the Liberal Party snatched a bag of outer suburban seats from Labor, giving rise to a new type of voter: Howard battlers.

It was an attempt to describe those who, despite having attributes often associated with Labor voters, were won over by John Howard’s brand of politics. Many Howard battlers had blue-collar jobs and, in some cases, a relatively low income, but they were also suspicious of high migration levels, worried about terrorism and often held socially conservative views.

The Howard battler label picked up on the gradual erosion of Labor’s working-class base. In 1987, about 60 per cent of those who described themselves as working class voted Labor, but that had fallen to 38 per cent by the 2022 election. (The ALP still attracted more votes from that cohort than any other party.)

Tradespeople, a group often linked to the battler tag, have emerged in the past two decades as an important constituency for the Coalition. In a nod to the Howard battlers, Tony Abbott coined the term “Tony’s tradies” to describe those who would benefit from generous small business tax breaks introduced when he was prime minister. Subsequent Liberal leaders, including Peter Dutton, have courted this group of workers.

In January, when Dutton promised a tax deduction of $20,000 for business-related meal and entertainment expenses, he said the policy would mean a “builder with five or six of his or her tradies can go down to a local restaurant, or to a local pub at the end of the week to celebrate a week of hard work”.

At the 2022 election, voters with non-tertiary qualifications, such as a trade, were more likely to support the Coalition (38 per cent) than Labor (35 per cent).

Suburban women

Political labels given to women rarely focus on their employment.Credit: Matt Davidson

Suburban women have been a political fixation for decades, and that amorphous voter group has picked up a clutch of labels. In the late 1990s, the “soccer mums” became a political preoccupation (in the US, they were renamed the “security moms” following the 9/11 terrorist attacks).

Analysis by John Black shows female professionals are now Australia’s largest occupational group, having outnumbered tradies since 2015.

“The female professional demographic has doubled in size in recent times,” he says.

The Australian Election Study reveals a gradual shift in the voting patterns of women and men over time. In the 1990s, Labor received slightly more support among men while the Coalition did slightly better among women. But Cameron says the gender gap in voting has reversed and widened.

“Over the past decade, women have become increasingly unlikely to vote for the Coalition. Labor, on the other hand, now has a modest advantage among women voters,” she says.

“This trend is not unique to Australia; other democracies have seen this shift from a traditional to a modern gender gap in voting, whereby women are now more likely to support parties on the left.”

During the Howard government’s term, the tag “doctor’s wives” was often used to describe female voters in wealthy, conservative electorates who were sympathetic to progressive causes, especially the treatment of refugees. But social and economic change has rendered that stereotype an anachronism.

“Those doctors’ wives have evolved into the teal candidates,” says Sydney University emeritus professor of political science Rodney Tiffen.

The past two federal elections have been marked by the success of women teal independents in affluent electorates previously considered Liberal Party heartland. They campaigned on issues including gender equality, political integrity and climate action.

New political debates about gender and work have emerged since the COVID-19 pandemic. Huntley says there’s strong evidence many women voters (and some men) are troubled by the idea that politicians would try to limit flexible employment options including remote work.

“It could become an issue that ignites the political attention of women workers,” she says.

Forgotten People

Recent Liberal leaders have drawn on Robert Menzies’ political appeal to “forgotten people”.Credit: Matt Davidson

Sometimes, politicians come up with their own voter labels. In a landmark 1942 speech, Australia’s longest-serving prime minister, Robert Menzies, called Australia’s middle classes the “forgotten people”. The notion of an unheard, underappreciated mass of voters has been a theme in Australian politics ever since.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison rebranded the forgotten people as “quiet Australians”. In his victory speech on election night in 2019, Morrison declared that group had “won a great victory”.

The quiet Australians tag contrasted with another one of Morrison’s favourite political labels: the Canberra bubble, which describes insiders who are out of touch.

The day Peter Dutton succeeded Morrison as Liberal Party leader, he returned to the language of “forgotten” voters.

“All I want to do is to make sure that we don’t forget about those in the suburbs, and I do think they are the forgotten people,” he said three years ago. “I do think those people in small business and micro business feel like the system is against them. And I want to be a voice for them.”

Tiffen says these labels echo the famous appeal by former US president Richard Nixon for the support of America’s “great silent majority” amid huge anti-Vietnam war protests in 1969.

“It’s a way of saying vocal opinion is not majority opinion, and even though all my opponents are up there making a noise, I know people who are silent are on my side,” he says. “It’s a nice tactic to dismiss unwelcome noise.”

Urban progressives

Former prime minister Paul Keating derided left-wing opponents of his reforms as “Balmain basket weavers”.Credit: Matt Davidson

Left-leaning inner-city voters have attracted a colourful array of nicknames, many of them disparaging. They typically focus on behaviours such as latte-sipping, chardonnay-swilling (at wine bars) or bicycle riding. Sometimes, they include apparel such as black skivvies.

Perhaps the most memorable barb in this genre came when Paul Keating derided left-wing opponents of his reforms as “Balmain basket weavers”.

But the political labels given to urban progressives show how voter stereotypes can be misleading.

When The Australia Institute surveyed a representative sample of voters in 2019, it found latte drinkers vote Liberal/National more than any other party. Among regular latte drinkers, voting intentions were 34 per cent Liberal/National, 32 per cent Labor, 16 per cent Greens, 7 per cent One Nation and 12 per cent other (although the biggest share of soy latte drinkers vote Green). The survey found occasional chardonnay drinkers were also most likely to be conservative voters (Liberal/National 23 per cent, ALP 20 per cent, Greens 18 per cent and One Nation 14 per cent).

The institute concluded, “It’s not clear why political rhetoric of division has focused so much on what people drink, but this research shows it bears little relationship to what really happens in Australia’s cafes, pubs and bars.”

Note: A guide to Australia’s voter types was published by this masthead before the 2022 election. This 2025 version has been comprehensively updated.

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