The first tangible evidence of the new year suggests that the more voters see of Anthony Albanese, the less they like him. This is what the first major opinion survey of 2025 has discovered.
The Prime Minister has been using January to start campaigning ahead of this year’s election, traveling from Queensland to Western Australia and Tasmania to canvass for votes.
This week he is back in New South Wales campaigning in the marginal seats in western Sydney, but the latest polling figures suggest Labor might be better off if Albo were hidden from view.
The Prime Minister’s roadshow has not stopped his already sluggish personal support from falling further.
Albo now trails opposition leader Peter Dutton in the preferred prime minister rating, according to polling agency Resolve.
Resolve correctly predicted the change of government in Queensland with its state poll results last year.
It now says only 34 per cent of voters nationally prefer Albanese as prime minister and 39 per cent favor Dutton. Last year, the couple was even.
Instead of relaxing on the Australian Open court as he usually does, Albo skipped his favorite annual trip to get an early start shaking hands and kissing babies, but to no avail.
Anthony Albanese enjoys an incecream at the 2023 Australian Open

Anthony Albanese and his fiancee Jodie Haydon watch the men’s singles final match at the Australian Open in 2024
It is unusual for opposition leaders to surpass prime ministers in preferred prime minister ratings, given that, unlike incumbents, they have no track record in office. It is especially unusual for someone like Dutton, who is perceived within political circles as unpopular.
When opposition leaders become the most popular choice for prime minister, this often precedes government change elections.
That was the case in 2022, when Albo’s personal numbers surpassed Scott Morrison’s close to election day. It was also the case in 2013 of the supposedly unpopular Tony Abbott against Kevin Rudd, and again in 2007, when Rudd’s strong support surpassed that of John Howard.
According to Resolve, the Labor Party’s primary vote is also struggling, falling to just 27 per cent compared to 38 per cent support for the Coalition.
After the distribution of predominantly green preferences favoring the Labor Party, the two-party contest intensifies. But voters still favor the Coalition by 52 per cent to 48 per cent when asked to nominate the main party they would likely prefer.
In the 2022 federal election, Labor defeated the Coalition with 52.13 per cent of the two-party vote to 47.87 per cent.
This latest news from the opinion polls would be devastating for Team Albo, as the results confirm that the Prime Minister is increasingly seen as a liability to the Labor vote.
With Albo’s personal support appearing to recede in the polls as he travels around the country campaigning, perhaps the prime minister should just enjoy the food and drinks at the Australian Open final this weekend.
Things can’t get much worse than they are now.

Albanese’s early blitz of the campaign has not stopped his already sluggish personal support from falling further.
Albo has long been seen as a weak campaigner, having performed poorly even in a winning election campaign in 2022. So there is real concern within Labor ranks that he risks losing the government. after just one term.
No first-term government has lost a federal election in Australia since 1931.
Even if Labor wins the next election and manages to reverse its poor poll numbers between now and then, securing a majority government seems highly unlikely.
A re-elected Albanian government would need the support of the Greens and possibly the Teal Independents to remain in power if it lost its already slim majority.
This alone provides the Coalition with powerful fodder ahead of the formal campaign, pointing out the inherent risks of re-electing Labor to form a government that will have to please the Greens on important policy issues.
While the latest poll figures are good news for the Coalition, opposition strategists remain concerned that Labor could accumulate votes in key seats, allowing it to regain power despite a sharp swing against it. , by winning votes in the seats. that’s the most important thing.
John Howard managed to stay in government in 1998 with less than 49 per cent of the national vote, retaining key marginal seats with a sandbagging strategy. That also appears to be Labour’s strategy more than a quarter of a century later.
To win a majority government on its own in this year’s election, the Coalition would need a five per cent national swing in its favor in the two-party vote, winning just 20 additional seats.
That could be a bridge too far once the official campaign begins and Labor takes aim at Dutton’s negative personality alongside a fear campaign about everything from the Coalition’s nuclear policy to misleading claims that the Opposition plans to dismantle Medicare.
That narrative is already being used by senior government ministers when leading press conferences.