Anthony Albanese on a high after year of success: Newspoll

Anthony Albanese will end year in commanding position, posting highest voter approval since becoming PM, Newspoll finds.

Anthony Albanese enjoyed a five-point rise, to 59 per cent, among those who said he was the better prime minister in the latest Newspoll. Picture: Morgan Sette

Anthony Albanese will end the year in a commanding electoral position, posting his highest voter approval since becoming Prime Minister after declaring to have delivered on Labor’s core election commitments in the first six months of office.

The Labor leader has also ­enjoyed a surge in support as the preferred prime minister despite pressure mounting to act on ­energy prices.

Peter Dutton. Picture: Martin Ollman

An exclusive Newspoll commissioned by The Australian shows popular support for Labor also lifting after delivering controversial industrial relations ­reforms and following a week of partisan political battle over the censure motion against former prime minister Scott Morrison.

But support for minor parties and independents fell to the ­lowest level since the May ­election.

The final Newspoll survey for the year shows Labor’s primary lifting a point to 39 per cent. The previous Newspoll was conducted after the October 25 federal budget.

This is the highest level of support for Labor since before the election and is more than six points stronger than its election result of 32.6 per cent

The Coalition has made no ground over the past month, with its primary vote unchanged on 35 per cent.

This is almost a point down on its election result of 35.7 per cent but is consistent with the last period of opposition following the 2007 election loss.

However, it is four points up on the 31 per cent recorded in the September Newspoll survey which marked a 15-year low for the Liberal and Nationals ­parties.

The combined primary vote for both major parties has ­recovered to 74 per cent since ­recording the lowest on record at the May election of just 68.4 per cent.

The two-party-preferred split between the major parties was unchanged at 55-45 per cent in Labor’s favour.

The Greens have also failed to recover ground with an ­unchanged primary vote of 11 per cent – which is two points down on its post election high of 13 per cent posted in August.

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation remains the dominant right-wing minority party on 6 per cent of the vote compared to Clive Palmers’s United Australia Party – which has since been deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission – attracting just 1 per cent.

The “other” minor parties – which includes teal independents – suffered a further one-point fall to 8 per cent, marking their lowest point since the election when they received 10.4 per cent of the national vote.

Mr Albanese last week claimed to have succeeded in delivering on Labor’s election commitments, having passed controversial industrial relations laws and a national anti-corruption body in the final parliamentary sitting week for 2022.

Satisfaction with the Labor leader’s performance rose to a record high with a three-point gain to 62 per cent, while those saying they were dissatisfied falling four points to 29 per cent.

This is the highest approval rating for Mr Albanese so far but with disapproval factored in, delivers a net positive rating of 33 per cent, two points down on his high of plus-35 in July.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, forced last week to defend Mr Morrison against the government’s censure motion, suffered a three-point decline in his satisfaction ratings to 36 per cent. However those dissatisfied with his performance also dropped – from 46 per cent to 45 per cent.

Mr Albanese’s dominance in the head-to-head contest with the Liberal leader also surged with a five-point rise to 59 per cent among those who said he was the better prime minister. Mr Dutton fell three points to 24 per cent.

The December Newspoll was conducted between Wednesday and Saturday and interviewed 1508 voters throughout Australia.