Newspoll: Coalition support plunges to record low
Support for the Coalition slumps to its equal lowest on record; Anthony Albanese extends his lead over Peter Dutton as preferred PM.
Popular support for the Coalition has slumped to its equal lowest on record in the wake of the Morrison ministry controversy, as Anthony Albanese extends his lead over Peter Dutton as preferred prime minister.
An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows the Liberal and Nationals primary vote falling for a second time since the election, plunging a further two points to land at a historic low of 31 per cent. This is almost five points down on the May election result and puts the Coalition at its equal lowest level of support since 2008, shortly after it went into opposition following the Rudd-slide of November 2007.
Underlying support for Labor remains unchanged at 37 per cent but, with the fall in support for the Liberal/Nations, Labor has widened its two party preferred lead by two points to 57/43.
This represents an almost 10-point gain for Labor since the election, as it continues to stamp its authority over the Liberal/Nationals parties.
Labor won the election with a primary vote of just 32.6 per cent but a two-party preferred split of 52.1/47.9 per cent.
The last time the Coalition primary vote was this low, however, Labor commanded a 63/37 per cent two-party preferred lead.
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation continued to make gains on the Right at the Coalition’s expense, lifting a point for the second poll in a row and reaching a three-year high of seven per cent.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Greens lifted a point to 13 per cent, almost a point higher than its election result.
The United Australia Party remained unchanged on two per cent while other minor parties and independents, including the teal independents, also remained unchanged on 10 per cent.
The fall in support for the Coalition and the relative low primary vote for Labor in the latest Newspoll confirms that the broader decay in electoral approval across the two major parties has not shifted since the election, with a third of voters still claiming to support minor parties or independents.
The Newspoll result comes on the back of Mr Albanese’s claims to a political victory last week with a successful jobs and skills summit which locked in an increase in migration to fill the skills gap and promised industrial relations reform.
The survey period also included a fortnight of turmoil for the Coalition over former prime-minister Scott Morrison’s secret ministry controversy which dominated the political landscape.
Mr Albanese increased his lead over Opposition Leader Peter Dutton as preferred prime minister lifting two points to 61 per cent against a three point fall for Mr Dutton to 22 per cent.
This is the largest gap between two leaders since February 2021 when Mr Morrison as prime minister led Mr Albanese by a similar margin.
While Mr Albanese maintained his high approval ratings of 61 per cent – unchanged on the previous poll conducted in July – his disapproval ratings increased three points to 29 per cent, leading to a drop in his net approval ratings to plus 32 per cent.
Mr Dutton’s overall approval ratings also fell.
Those satisfied with his performance dropped two points to 35 per cent while those saying they were dissatisfied rose two points to 43 per cent.
The Liberal leader’s net approval ratings fell four points to minus eight.
The latest Newspoll online survey was conducted between Wednesday and Saturday, and polled 1505 voters throughout Australia.
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