Australian voters’ concerns over federal debt have intensified as confidence in the Labor government’s economic management falls and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s approval rating continues to slide.
A Resolve Political Monitor survey of 2,250 voters found that 74 per cent were worried about federal debt, while 48 per cent backed reducing spending as the main way to address debt and deficits.
The poll, conducted between September 6 and 12, showed Labor on 28 per cent of the primary vote, unchanged from the previous month. The Coalition rose one point to 24 per cent, while One Nation also gained one point to 27 per cent. Greens support fell one point to 11 per cent.
Despite the limited movement in voting intentions, Labor has lost ground on the question of which party is best placed to manage the economy during difficult conditions. The Liberals were chosen by 27 per cent, compared with 23 per cent for Labor and 21 per cent for One Nation.
The findings follow criticism of the government’s May budget, which introduced significant changes to property and investment taxation. Twenty-three per cent of voters said broken promises in the budget had caused them to lose trust in Mr Albanese.
That group was smaller than the 34 per cent who said they had distrusted the prime minister before the budget promises were broken, while 26 per cent said they still trusted him.
Mr Albanese’s preferred-prime-minister rating fell three points in a month to 29 per cent. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was on 25 per cent, down one point, while Opposition Leader Angus Taylor rose two points to 21 per cent.
The movements for Ms Hanson and Mr Taylor were within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points. The decline in Mr Albanese’s rating was outside that margin.
Debt concerns extend to state governments
Mr Albanese’s overall performance was rated good or very good by 35 per cent of respondents, while 53 per cent described it as poor or very poor. Twelve per cent were undecided.
Mr Taylor was rated good or very good by 39 per cent, although that figure was down two points. Thirty per cent rated his performance poorly, while 32 per cent were undecided, an increase of six points.
Ms Hanson received the strongest performance assessment, with 47 per cent rating her good or very good and 37 per cent rating her poor or very poor.
Concern about public finances was not limited to Canberra. Sixty-nine per cent of voters said they were worried about state government debt, compared with 11 per cent who were not concerned and 20 per cent who were undecided.
Victorians were the most concerned, at 72 per cent, followed by voters in New South Wales at 67 per cent and Queensland at 63 per cent.
Nearly half of those surveyed – 48 per cent – said spending should be cut either wholly or mainly to deal with debt and deficits. Ten per cent favoured tax rises as the main response, while 42 per cent supported an equal balance between spending cuts and tax increases.
The poll found that voters’ support for the government’s goal of reducing house prices remained largely unchanged, despite the criticism over its budget commitments. Fifty-nine per cent backed lower house prices, while 9 per cent opposed them and 30 per cent were neutral or undecided.
However, the budget changes appear to have affected voting intentions for Labor. Twenty per cent said the broken promises made them more likely to vote for the party, while 41 per cent said they were less likely to do so. Thirty-nine per cent said the changes had made no difference or were unsure.
Labor remained the party most expected to win the next election, although its share fell one point to 33 per cent. Expectations of a One Nation victory rose sharply from 17 per cent to 28 per cent in a month, while 18 per cent believed the Coalition would win.
The poll was conducted during a week in which former prime minister Kevin Rudd warned that Australia risked becoming a “second-rate country”, while former ACTU chief Bill Kelty accused Mr Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers of encouraging support for One Nation.
