Anthony Albanese has faced another setback: a staggering number of Australians believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, according to a new poll.
A Redbridge poll released on Wednesday showed almost half of the 1,500 voters surveyed between November 13 and 20 shared the somber sentiment.
More than 50 percent believed that the Albanian government did not have the right approach.
When asked if it had the right priorities, 25 per cent of Australians said they “strongly disagreed” and 27 per cent disagreed.
Only six percent of voters said they “strongly agree” and about 30 percent of people viewed the government’s priorities positively.
Redbridge Cllr Tony Barry said it was a worrying sign for the Prime Minister ahead of the federal election due in May 2025.
“With 48 per cent of voters believing Australia is on the wrong path and a majority thinking the Prime Minister is focused on the wrong priorities, there is a very strong feeling of change in the electorate,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
The poll found that Labor was losing some of its traditional voter base, with just one per cent of working class voters “strongly agreeing” that the government had the right priorities, compared to 21 per cent. of professionals and managers.
Anthony Albanese has faced another setback: a staggering number of Australians believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, according to a new poll.
Some 38 per cent of professionals and managers believed the government had the right approach – almost double that of their blue-collar counterparts (20 per cent).
The waning support from Australian workers is a blow to Albanese, who likes to present himself as having strong ties to the working class.
During his election campaign he continually reviewed stories from his childhood, remembering how he was raised by a single mother in a council house.
The Prime Minister even branded himself a “working class guy who lives in public housing”.
“The Labor Party’s problem is that Albanese is a white-collar person’s idea of a blue-collar person and a perception among his base that his priorities are not aligned with theirs,” Mr Barry said.
“If they cannot reconnect with their base in the coming months, there is a real danger that some Labor seats that are not normally up for grabs could be on the table during the campaign.”
About 57 per cent of Australians surveyed said they felt worse today than when Albanese was elected two and a half years ago.
The figure dwarfed the 31 percent of voters who thought they were better off now than when Albanese was elected.
The survey also recorded a change in public perception about whether opposition leader Peter Dutton was ready to take office.
For the first time, the number of voters who believed Dutton was ready to lead the country exceeded those who thought he was not.
In November of last year, the difference between participants who thought Dutton was ready was 20 points, in his favor.
This figure dropped sharply to nine percent in April and further decreased to six percent in July this year.
“There is a growing cohort of Dutton-curious voters who are more willing to accept the proposition that the Coalition is ready to govern,” Mr Barry said.
“Over the last seven months, in preparation for the government’s measurement, the Coalition has gone from -9 net to +1 net, which represents a movement of 10 points which in the political sphere is a very significant movement.”