CANBERRA, Apr 26 (NNN-AAP) – Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, and his governing Labour Party, have increased their opinion poll lead over the opposition with eight days to go until the general elections.
According to a new poll, conducted by the Australian branch of UK market research firm YouGov, Labour now leads the opposition Coalition of the Liberal and National Parties by a margin of 53.5-46.5, on a two-party basis.
It marked an increased Labour lead from 53-47 in a YouGov poll taken earlier this month, and a significant turnaround from a 51-49 Coalition advantage, reported by YouGov in Feb.
The latest YouGov survey found that, Labour now leads on a two-party basis in key outer metropolitan seats, and in every state, except Queensland, the native state of Coalition leader, Peter Dutton.
Labour won power at the 2022 election, after nine years in opposition with a 52.13-47.17 two-party advantage over the Coalition.
When Australians cast their votes in the election, they do so on a preferential basis for candidates running in their local electorate, geographic divisions that each contain approximately the same number of voters.
The lower house in the 48th parliament will comprise 150 members each, representing one electorate.
The YouGov poll found that 33.5 percent of respondents intend to vote for their local Labour candidate, as their first preference compared to 31 percent for the Coalition, and 14 percent for the Greens, Australia’s third-largest party.
Labour received 32.5 percent of the first preference votes in 2022 and the Coalition 35.7 percent, with Labour benefitting from stronger preference flows from minor parties and independents, particularly the Greens.
A 31 percent primary vote for the Coalition, in the May 3 elections, would mark its lowest ever recorded, since the Liberal Party was founded in 1944.
Among respondents to the survey, 50 percent picked Albanese as their preferred PM, compared to 35 percent for Dutton.
Paul Smith, director of Public Data at YouGov, said yesterday that, the public has “clearly made a decision that they don’t want Peter Dutton as PM.”– NNN-AAP
