Support for the federal Coalition has increased as the majority of Australians say the country is heading in the wrong direction.
Peter Dutton’s opposition increased its primary vote support from 36 to 38 per cent in the latest Resolve Strategic poll, while primary vote support for the Albanese government remained flat at 28 per cent – the lowest level it’s been since the Prime Minister took office.
The poll results, published in the Nine newspapers, are a major improvement for the Coalition compared to this time last year, when Labor led the Liberals and Nationals by 39 per cent to 30 per cent.
The change in public attitudes has been even more dramatic on the issue of preferred prime minister, which has gone from 51-21 in favour of Mr Albanese to 35-34 in Mr Dutton’s favour in just 12 months.
The increased support for the federal Coalition comes as Australians are increasingly pessimistic about the nation’s future – with economic issues dominating public concerns.
Of the 1603 eligible voters surveyed, 55 per cent said the national outlook was getting worse, while 29 per cent said it would stay the same and just 16 per cent said the national outlook was improving.
When asked to list the most important issue driving how they would vote, 53 per cent said it was the cost of living.
In terms of dealing with the persistent crisis, 31 per cent said they believed the Coalition would do a better job compared to just 24 per cent who said Labor.
For the first time in a Resolve Strategic poll, the Coalition also had a lead over Labor on the issue of Jobs and wages – 34 per cent to 30 per cent.
On the broader issue of overall economic management, the Coalition led Labor on 40 to 24 per cent.
In July last year, Labor led the Coalition 35 to 31 per cent on the same measure, while in the first poll after the 2022 federal election Labor led the Coalition 39 to 30 per cent.
This month’s poll showed the Greens primary vote support had dipped slightly from 14 to 13 per cent, while support for independents and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation remained flat at 11 per cent and six per cent respectively.
Resolve Strategic surveyed 1603 eligible voters on behalf of The Age from last Wednesday to Saturday, generating results with a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points.