Newspoll: Voters abandon Anthony Albanese as Labor’s fortunes nosedive

The government now heads into the final parliamentary sitting of the year with primary support lower than its election result for the first time.

Labor’s primary vote has tumbled to below its 2022 election result for the first time with both major parties now neck and neck on a two-party-preferred basis as cost-of-living pressures escalate and the Albanese government faces a mounting list of political and policy crises.

An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows Labor’s primary vote falling four points to 31 per cent in the past three weeks.

The government now heads into the final parliamentary sitting of the year with its primary support lower than its election result of 32.6 per cent. The Coalition’s primary vote has lifted a point to 38 per cent – its highest level of support since the election.

In two-party-preferred terms, this puts Labor and the Coalition at 50-50 for the first time, on the back of a four-point turnaround since the last Newspoll on November 3.

Labor also lost votes to the left, with the Greens’ support rising a point to 13 per cent, and other minor parties including the teal ­independents lifting two points to 12 per cent. Pauline Hanson’s One Nation remained on 6 per cent.

The sharp fall for Labor marks a 2.1 per cent national swing against the government since the election. If an election were held at the weekend, Labor would likely lose its majority in the House of Representatives.

Anthony Albanese has also suffered a further fall in his approval ratings, reaching the lowest level of support since the election.

The sharp electoral backlash against Labor follows the 13th ­interest rate rise earlier this month amid warnings from the Reserve Bank that the inflation problem was far from being resolved with further borrowers and businesses facing the prospect of more rate rises.

But the government has also been plagued with unexpected political events since the failure of the voice referendum in October which marked the beginning of a slide in electoral support for the government and the prime minister personally.

Since the last Newspoll, the government has stood accused of bungling the policy response to the High Court’s decision to overturn indefinite immigration detention, while the Prime Minister was criticised for his delayed and secretive response to the Chinese navy’s ­aggressive manoeuvres against Australian navy divers.

The opposition has also taken the government to task over a ­perceived slow response to rising anti-Semitism and pro-Palestinian protests against a backdrop of Mr Albanese’s frequent overseas travel.

While electoral support for Labor fell following the loss of the referendum, the latest Newspoll conducted between last Monday and Friday marks the single greatest fall in a single period for the government.

Labor’s primary vote has ­fallen five points since July while Mr ­Albanese personal approval ratings have fallen deeply into negative territory and is now level with Liberal leader Peter Dutton.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

Mr Albanese’s approval ratings fell a further two points to 40 per cent.

This is the Prime Minister’s lowest level of approval since the election. It has fallen 12 points since July. His dissatisfaction levels rose a point to 53 per cent, giving him a net approval rating of minus 13.

Mr Dutton’s approval rating of 37 per cent and disapproval of 50 remained unchanged, giving the Opposition Leader the same net result as Mr Albanese.

This is the second poll in a row to show more voters were dissatisfied with Mr Albanese’s performance than they were with Mr Dutton.

The head-to-head contest ­between the two leaders remained largely unchanged, with Mr Albanese on 46 per cent and Mr Dutton down a point to 35 per cent.

The margin between the two leaders has narrowed significantly since July when Mr Albanese ­enjoyed a 25-point lead over Mr Dutton.

The Coalition’s primary vote is now more than two points higher than its election result of 35.7, while Labor’s is almost two points lower.

The Greens primary vote is slightly higher than its election ­result of 12.2 per cent, while the vote for other minor parties and independents is down on the election levels of 14.5 per cent.

The two-party-preferred vote of 50-50 represents the loss of five seats for Labor if applied as a theoretical uniform swing of 2.1 per cent across all seats.

This would reduce Labor to 73 seats in the 151 seat lower house, forcing into minority government.

The Newspoll surveyed 1216 voters across the country.