Newspoll: Labor ahead as Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison lift approval ratings

Labor has preserved its commanding electoral lead over the ­Coalition with fewer than 90 days before the federal election.

Anthony Albanese appears to have defied the negative Coalition campaign over Labor’s stance on China. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Labor has preserved its commanding electoral lead over the ­Coalition with fewer than 90 days before the federal election, despite small gains for the Liberal-Nationals and a jump in approval for both Scott Morrison and Anthony ­Albanese.

An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows the Coalition primary vote lifting a point to 35 per cent over the past two weeks, with Labor maintaining a post-election high of 41 per cent.

Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party has leapt ahead of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation as the largest fringe party nationally after the Greens to contest the May poll.

With the Russian war on Ukraine raging, the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader have adopted a bipartisan position on Australia’s response.

Mr Morrison’s approval rating has lifted three points to 43 per cent and dissatisfaction with his performance has fallen a point to 55 per cent. This is a four-point turnaround since the previous poll was conducted two weeks ago.

Mr Albanese, who in the first week of the survey period came under attack from Mr Morrison and government frontbenchers for being soft on China, appears to have defied the negative campaign to also lift personally.

The Labor leader’s approval rating rose four points to 44 per cent while his disapproval ratings fell three points to 43 per cent – giving him his first net-positive approval number in almost a year.

In the head-to-head contest on who would make the better prime minister, the gap has narrowed to two points.

While Mr Morrison remains the preferred prime minister on 42 per cent – a one-point fall on the last Newspoll – the Labor leader lifted two points to 40 per cent.

The latest Newspoll shows the overall flow of preferences ­remains unchanged, with a two-party-preferred split of 55-45 per cent in Labor’s favour.

This represents a swing of 6.5 points against the government since the last election.

There are 22 seats held by Liberal or Nationals MPs with margins less than this.

UAP, campaigning on an anti-vax and anti-lockdown platform, is commanding 4 per cent of the popular vote.

Scott Morrison’s approval rating has lifted three points to 43 per cent and dissatisfaction with his performance has fallen a point to 55 per cent. Picture: David Swift

It attracted 3.4 per cent of the vote nationally at the May 2019 election.

One Nation, which is seeking to tap into a similar anti-government sentiment, is attracting 3 per cent of the vote – which ­remains on par with its poll result of 3.1 per cent at the last federal election.

The Greens lifted a point to 9 per cent, but this remains well down on the 2019 election result of 10.4 per cent.

The “others” column, which represents all other fringe parties and independents, was 8 per cent.

The total vote for all minor parties and independents – those other than the two major parties – was 25.3 per cent at the last ­election.

The latest Newspoll has this combined vote at 24 per cent.

This poll represents the first to publish UAP results this electoral cycle.

The decision was taken in light of a consistent primary vote of 3 per cent or more and the recent confirmation that it was fielding candidates in every lower house seat.

There was no change in the methodology of the survey or the questionnaire, which has been tracking the UAP vote since late last year.

The latest Newspoll was conducted between last Wednesday and Saturday, and surveyed 1525 voters nationally.