Voters are turning away from Anthony Albanese’s Voice proposal because he appears to be spending more time promoting the referendum than trying to solve the cost of living crisis, a new poll suggests.
The Prime Minister has repeatedly assured the public that the cost of living remains his government’s number one priority.
But Australians don’t see that sentiment reflected in his actions as he travels the country advocating for an Indigenous voice in Parliament, research suggests.
Albanese landed at Uluru today for the final campaign push ahead of the October 14 referendum and told a gathered crowd he remains “confident” of a Yes victory.
He later broke down in tears after receiving a copy of the Uluru Statement from the Heart from an Aboriginal group who held his hands while singing.
As his popularity takes another hit in voter satisfaction ratings, polling and modeling by British firm Focal Data found the cost of living crisis is the second most pressing reason why everyday Australians They say No to the Voice.
Albanese landed at Uluru today for the final campaign push ahead of the October 14 referendum and told a gathered crowd he remains “confident” of a Yes victory.
The Prime Minister has repeatedly assured the public that the cost of living remains the number one priority for him and his government.
The UK-based research group predicts the nation will vote No by 61 per cent to the Yes campaign’s 39 per cent in Saturday’s referendum after polling 4,500 Australians and modeling the result in each seat.
When presented with eight possible reasons for voting No, 18 per cent of participants considered “there are other things, such as the cost of living, that need to be sorted out first in Australia” as their main reason.
A further 19 per cent said it was their secondary reason for voting No, while a further 19 per cent said it was their third reason, meaning 56 per cent of No voters in total consider it one of their top three reasons. .
Households have seen price spikes on everything from food to petrol and electricity bills since the pandemic, and the prime minister’s popularity has taken a hit as a result.
Redbridge pollster Kosmos Samaras told Daily Mail Australia that “much of the government’s bandwidth has been allocated to Voice” and that had impacted public perception of the way it has handled existential issues.
He later said: “Labour will have to pivot quickly to economic issues if it is to secure the support of these voters in 2025.”
‘It’s the economy, as always.
‘Support for The Voice began to fall sharply after the second interest rate rise this year. In July, he fell behind the No side.”
The prime minister has enjoyed immense popularity.
When presented with eight possible reasons for voting No, 18 per cent of participants considered “there are other things, such as the cost of living, that need to be sorted out first in Australia” as their main reason.
An Albanian government spokesperson told the Daily Mail that the Australian Labor Party’s number one priority is to help ease the pressure on tough-guy Australians.
‘In recent weeks, 5.5 million Australians have seen an increase in their income support and pension payments. This is just part of our $14.6 billion cost of living package.
‘The Opposition voted against cost-of-living relief for Australians, including trying to stop people with chronic illnesses from accessing cheaper medicines, and voted against our energy price relief package.
“We’re cleaning up the mess they left while providing targeted, responsible cost-of-living assistance, without contributing to inflation.”
In the past 18 months since coming to power, the Albanese-led Labor government has increased rental assistance, boosted mass billing and made cheaper childcare more accessible to 1.2 million families.
Payments to job seekers and single parents have also increased.
Despite his best efforts, voter satisfaction with Albanese plummeted 12 percentage points in a six-month period, from a high of 57 percent to the current 45 percent.
Between October 2009 and April 2010, support for Rudd fell from 63 percent to 50 percent, while dissatisfaction jumped from 28 percent to 41 percent.
He remains far more popular than opposition leader Peter Dutton, who has a satisfaction rating of 37 points and has seen little improvement as voters turn their backs on the prime minister.
It is a downward trend that has been compared to Kevin Rudd’s decline in the polls in the second half of his first term.
Between October 2009 and April 2010, support for Rudd fell from 63 percent to 50 percent, while dissatisfaction jumped from 28 percent to 41 percent.
At the time, it took a step back from its historic climate change policy, while Australia simultaneously struggled with an influx of illegal boat arrivals, which was an issue voters considered a much higher priority at the time.
The Labor primary vote fell to 34 per cent, its lowest level since the election and just two percentage points ahead of the Coalition, according to a Newspoll by The Australian.
The ALP still maintains a comfortable preferential advantage between the two parties, from 53 percent to 47 percent.