Why Greens, Labor are so desperate to woo Gen Z voters

Influencer Abbie Chatfield describes the Greens’ Adam Bandt as an ‘incredible leader’ while Anthony Albanese is keen to get on her TikTok posts. New figures show why young voters are so crucial.

More than a quarter of young voters think a Labor minority government with the Greens is the “best result” for Australia, as a new poll shows millennials and Gen Z feel the major party “system is failing them”.

A record number of Millennial and Gen Z voters will cast their vote in the May 3 election raising concerns about the prospect of a minority government.

Analysis of the latest Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) enrolment figures show voters between 18 and 44 are the fastest growing voting cohort in the country with 7,718,208 voters compared to Baby Boomers and the over-60s which number 5,871,342.

Experts say the increasing number of young voters will lead to an unprecedented vote for minor parties and independents.

It comes as an exclusive Redbridge poll commissioned for this publication shows more than a quarter of young voters think a Labor minority government with the Greens is the “best result” for Australia.

Young voters Eliot Tompkins 20yrs Madiba Doyle-Lambert 21yrs Leo Hawkins 22 yrs and Eva Maurer 21 yrs

Despite Anthony Albanese’s emphatic declaration that he will not do a deal with Greens leader Adam Bandt, and Peter Dutton warning of the chaos and dysfunction that awaits under a Labor minority government, Redbridge polling shows a Greens-Labor coalition is the preferred result for 28 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds.

The Australian Greens Party held a VOTE event hosted by Abbie Chatfield with Adam Bandt headlining with a DJ set. Picture: NewsWire/ Nadir Kinani

Mr Bandt and Mr Albanese recently appeared in videos on influencer Abbie Chatfield’s TikTok account, as part of a growing push by politicians to win over younger voters.

Among voters age 35 to 49, about 10 per cent want a Labor Greens minority government, while eight per cent want Mr Albanese to join with the Teals and 13 per cent want a Coalition minority joined with either Greens or Teals.

With voting-age Gen Z – voters up to 28 years old – and millennials – who are between 29 and 44 years old – combined now outnumbering Baby Boomers, this cohort will have a significant impact on the election, but the disillusionment is spreading to older age groups too.

Overall only 25 per cent of Australians want to see Labor in majority, compared to 31 per cent who want the Coalition to have hold power alone, meaning almost half the country wants a minority or some other result.

Among Labor supporters, about 20 per cent of voters would like the crossbench to have a controlling voice in an Albanese minority government, including 14 per cent who want the PM to govern with the Greens and six per cent would like him to do a deal with Teal community independents.

Only about three per cent of Coalition supporters want Mr Dutton to do a deal with the Greens, while five per cent would be happy to see the opposition leader governing with the help of the Teals.

Abbie Chatfield described the AEC investigation into her posts with Anthony Albanese and Adam Bandt as a waste of resources. Picture: Instagram

The poll of 1006 people, conducted between March 8 and April 1, captures the start of the election campaign in which Mr Dutton has tried to warn voters a Labor minority government supported by the Greens would send Australia further into debt.

“When you get a big-spending Labor-Greens government, interest rates will go higher under Mr Albanese,” he said.

The PM has insisted he will govern in majority, but Mr Bandt has pointed out Mr Albanese will have to negotiate with the Greens if Labor doesn’t reach the required 76 seats.

Redbridge director Kos Samaras said younger Australians have a growing appetite for minority governments because they feel “the system has failed them”.

“Major parties have been offering band-aids instead of solutions,” he said.

“Half of those young people report to us have no values connection to any of the major parties or minor parties.”

Mr Samaras said as millennials and Gen Z had become a larger part of the electoral roll, results in Australian elections had consistently gotten closer.

He said in 2010 about 80 seats were decided on preference counts, compared to more than 130 seats that weren’t won outright by a candidate on first preference in 2022.

Mr Samaras said the candidate offerings also reflected this increased appetite for alternatives to the major parties, with more than 35 seats in this election considered “non-classical contests” meaning they are not just Labor versus the Coalition.

He said 15 years ago only eight seat races where a minor party or independent candidate was a serious contender.

Originally published as Why Greens, Labor are so desperate to woo Gen Z voters