DemosAU: Labor 23, Coalition 32, One Nation 22 in Victoria

A new poll suggests a less unpopular leader has done little to lift Victorian Labor three months out from the election.

DemosAU/Premier National have a poll of Victorian state voting intention that paints a picture fundamentally unchanged from before the Labor leadership change, with Labor up two points from June to 23%, the Coalition also up two to 32%, One Nation down one to 22% and the Greens down two to 13%. The Coalition holds an unchanged two-party lead over Labor of 55-45. Jess Wilson records a 43-34 lead over Ben Carroll on preferred premier, compared with Wilson’s 47-28 lead over Jacinta Allan. Wilson’s personal ratings are 35% positive (up three), 41% neutral (down five) and 24% negative (up two), while Carroll is on 21% positive, 42% neutral and 37% negative, compared with Allan’s 18%, 25% and 57%. The poll was conducted Thursday to Tuesday from a sample of 1007.

As noted in the post below, a Victorian state poll from Resolve Strategic in the Nine Newspapers is likely over the coming days.

Resolve Strategic: Labor 28, One Nation 26, Coalition 23 (open thread)

No change whatsoever in voting intention in the monthly Resolve Strategic poll, which features further questions on budget measures and immigration.

Nine Newspapers reports the latest monthly Resolve Strategic poll records no change on voting intention since last month, with Labor on 28%, One Nation on 26%, the Coalition on 23% and the Greens on 12%. Anthony Albanese’s combined very good and good rating is down two to 37%, with poor and very poor steady on 53%. Angus Taylor is down a point on both to 40% and 33%, while Pauline Hanson is at 46% (up one on last month) and 41% (last month’s result was not reported). A three-way preferred prime minister question has Albanese down a point to 32%, Angus Taylor down two to 19% and Pauline Hanson up one to 26%. Further detail can be found on a redesigned Resolve Monitor display on the Nine Newspapers sites.

A series of questions the series has posed since the May budget offer the government some encouragement. Over four monthly iterations, support for winding back negative gearing has gone from 35% to 33% to 37% to 35%, with opposition going from 21% to 26% to 23% to 20%; while support for changes to the capital gains tax discount has gone from 36% to 31% to 35% to 35%, with opposition going from 21% to 31% to 24% to 21%. The poll also finds 60% support for the objective of bringing house prices down, down one on last month, with only 10% opposed, up one. Labor does less well out of a question on its handling of immigration: 26% says it has handled it in “a carefully planned and managed way”, with 54% rating it “unplanned and unmanaged”. Fifty-six per cent said they would support stricter visa controls, with only 14% opposed.

The poll was conducted Sunday to Saturday from a sample of 2256, a temporary increase on the usual 1600 or so. This allows the surveys to double as monthly polls of state voting intention in Victoria ahead of its election in late November, which will presumably follow over the coming days. On that note, a Victorian poll from DemosAU/Premier National was published today, which I will have a post on overnight.

UK Clacton parliamentary by-election live

Nigel Farage set for a massive win over Count Binface after resigning to recontest Clacton, but Labour takes the lead in national polls. Three Canadian federal by-elections will be held on August 31.

Live Commentary

3:37pm Wikipedia has the percentages. Farage wins by 63.3-26.9 over Binface. Rejoin EU was the next highest with 1.4%. That’s a 17.1-point swing to Farage from the 2024 election result. The Survation poll overstated Farage, but he still won very easily.

3:09pm Results are not fully declared yet, but Farage has received over 22,000 votes to Binface’s nearly 9,500.

2:37pm The Clacton result is expected to be declared in the next hour.

12:27pm Farage won’t be attending the declaration of the result ceremony.

11:59am Farage says “it’s a convincing, overwhelming win” for him at the by-election.

11:29am Official turnout for the by-election was 44.4%, down from 58.7% in 2024.

11am Farage’s scrutineers seem confident that he’ll win more votes than he did in 2024 despite lower overall turnout.

9:44am Friday The BBC’s live blog of the Clacton count is here. Provisional turnout was “around 43%”, down from 58.7% at the 2024 general election.

6:20pm ChrisC in comments says the 34 candidates for Clacton, who all need to be listed on one ballot paper, mean it will take a long time to get a result. The BBC is estimating a declaration time between 2pm and 4pm AEST Friday.

Guest post by Adrian Beaumont, who joins us from time to time to provide commentary on elections internationally. Adrian is a paid election analyst for The Conversation. His work for The Conversation can be found here.

Polls close at 7am AEST Friday for a UK parliamentary by-election in Clacton. The populist right Reform’s leader, Nigel Farage, resigned to recontest on July 7. No other well-known party is contesting this by-election. A total of 34 candidates are standing, breaking the previous record of 26 for a by-election in 2008.

A mid to late July Survation poll, from a small sample of 265, gave Farage a massive 73-20 lead over joke candidate Count Binface with 7% for others. Although this sample size would give a 6% margin of error, Farage will still win easily. In 2024, Farage defeated the Conservatives in Clacton by 46.2-27.9 with 16.2% for Labour.

The Election Maps UK aggregate of national polls has Labour leading with 25.6% (up 2.2 points since my July 31 article), followed by Reform at 24.4% (down 0.1), the Conservatives 20.0% (down 0.2), the Greens 11.0% (down 0.7), the Liberal Democrats 10.6% (down 0.5) and the populist right Restore 3.5% (up 0.8). It’s the first time Labour has led in this aggregate since March 2025 and their biggest lead since January 2025.

Seat projections give Labour 213 of the 650 seats, with Reform on 152, the Conservatives 104, the Lib Dems 76, the Scottish National Party 42 and the Greens 20. A progressive majority could be formed by Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP.

US updates

I had an article for The Conversation on Wednesday on Donald Trump’s ratings, prospects at the November 3 midterm elections and the US economy. In Nate Silver’s midterm forecast model, Democrats have a 56% chance to gain control of the federal Senate and an 86% chance to gain control of the House.

Republicans currently lead in the House of Representatives by 219-212 over Democrats with four vacancies. In mid-June, two Democrats qualified for the California 14 runoff next Tuesday and in late July two Democrats qualified for the Georgia 13 runoff on August 25, so Republicans’ lead will soon shrink to 219-214.

No special election has been scheduled for the remaining two vacancies (one Republican, one Democratic), which both occurred in mid-April. These two seats are likely to remain vacant until the general election.

Three Canadian federal by-elections on August 31

Three Canadian federal by-elections will occur on August 31. As in the UK, Canada uses first-past-the-post for national elections. At the April 2025 Canadian election, the centre-left Liberals defeated the Conservatives in North Vancouver-Capilano by 59.8-33.7 with 4.2% for the left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP). The Liberals defeated the Conservatives in Beaches-East York by 67.8-23.5 with 6.9% for the NDP.

The most interesting by=election is likely to be in the Quebec seat of Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, which the Conservatives won in 2025 with 34.1%. The separatist Quebec Bloc and the Liberals were nearly tied (31.2% Bloc, 31.1% Liberals). A mid-July poll gave the Bloc 30%, the Liberals 28% and the Conservatives 26%.

The Liberals currently hold 172 of the 343 House of Commons seats including four vacancies. Even if they lost all three August 31 by-elections, they would retain a bare majority. They should at least win the two seats they currently hold, increasing to 174 seats. Six further by-elections are likely in the near future, with two due to pending resignations of Liberal MPs. The Liberals have recently surged to lead the Conservatives by double-digit margins in Canadian federal polls.

Upcoming elections in Brazil and Israel

The first round of the Brazilian presidential election will be held on October 4, with a runoff on October 25 if nobody wins a first round majority. Incumbent Workers Party president Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former populist right president Jair Bolsonaro, are the two main candidates. Six polls conducted in August of a likely runoff range from a tie to a nine-point Lula lead.

Israel uses national proportional representation with a 3.25% threshold to elect a total of 120 MPs. Most polls ahead of the October 27 election have Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing governing coalition well below the 61 seats needed for a majority, with the big exception the government-aligned Filber poll. However, even if the governing coalition loses its majority, it may be difficult to form an alternative government.

Federal polls: YouGov and Roy Morgan (open thread)

A volatile poll series finds Labor at a new low, while a more stable one records little change.

The fortnightly YouGov poll, which is now branded News24 Pulse following Sky News’ name change, is little changed on last time: Labor is steady on 28%, One Nation down one to 24%, the Coalition steady on 22% and the Greens down one to 12%. Respondent-allocated two-party preferred results have Labor leading the Coalition 52-48, which is in from 53-47, and One Nation by 56-44, which is unchanged. Anthony Albanese is down one on approval to 36% and up two on disapproval to 57%, while Angus Taylor is up two to 35% and down three to 46%. Albanese holds a preferred prime minister lead of 42-38 over Angus Taylor, in from 43-37, and leads Pauline Hanson 51-38, in from 52-37. The poll was conducted Tuesday to Monday – the sample size remains to be seen, but would have been around 1500.

The weekly Roy Morgan poll has Labor down two points to 25.5%, their worst result for the term, but with the Coalition also down, by a point-and-a-half to 22%. One Nation is up two to 26%, while the Greens are up half to 15.5%, their equal best result for the term. Respondent-allocated two-party results have Labor leading both One Nation and the Coalition by 53-47, which is respectively in from 54-46 and out from 52-48, while Labor’s lead on previous election preferences narrows from 52.5-47.5 to 52-48. The poll was conducted Monday to Sunday from a sample of 1647.

Victorian election minus 16 weeks

Two new state polls from Victoria, plus sundry preselection news.

Two new bits of state polling from Victoria:

• Common Threads, an organisation that supports the state’s First Peoples treaty process, has published results from a multi-level regression and post-stratification poll conducted for it by YouGov, though its field work period of June 16 to July 10 long predates the leadership change. The poll has statewide voting intention results are Coalition 26%, One Nation 24%, Labor 23% and Greens 13%, with the Coalition leading Labor 53.8-46.2 on two-party preferred, but its main purpose is to produce produced modelled estimates of voting intention at seat level. The median forecast is for a hung parliament with 39 seats for the Coalition, 29 for Labor, 17 for One Nation and three for the Greens. Fifteen of the projected One Nation gains are at Labor’s expense, with a projection of eight seats being won by the Nationals (including Jacinta Allan’s seat of Bendigo East) being quite a bit healthier than their outlook in other contexts. Extensive detail on seat projections, demographics and responses to the questions on the First Nations treaty are featured in the full report. The sample for the poll is 4003 – high for a normal poll, but no the low side for an MRP poll.

• Roy Morgan had a poll conducted last Wednesday to Friday by SMS, a method I have my doubts about. It suggests only modest change since the last such poll in April, with the Coalition up two to 26%, Labor up half a point to 26%, One Nation down one to 23.5% and the Greens down one to 12.5%. Two-party preferred results had the Coalition leading Labor 51-49, reversing the result from April; Labor leading One Nation 56-44, out from 53.5-46.5; and the Coalition leading One Nation 63.5-36.5, out from 59-41. The sample for the poll was 2084.

Preselection news:

• The Liberal Party’s state executive voted to install Melbourne deputy lord mayor Roshena Campbell as its lead candidate for the Western Metropolitan upper house region on Friday. This filled the vacancy created three weeks earlier when the state executive voted unanimously to disendorse Moira Deeming. Campbell was chosen by 12 votes to seven ahead of incumbent Trung Luu, who has now nominated for a separate process to fill the second position on the ticket, from which he won election in 2022.

• The Herald Sun’s Backroom Baz column reports that Eastern Victoria region was missing from One Nation’s announcement of its lead upper house candidates because of a last-minute decision for party state president Warren Pickering to run in the lower house seat of Pakenham instead. The party has since announced its Eastern Victoria candidate will be Greg Hansford, who ran for the anti-lockdown Freedom Party at the 2022 election, and as One Nation’s federal candidate for Gippsland at the 2025 federal election.

• The Australian’s Victoria Ink column reported last month that Moonee Valley councillor Samantha Byrne had been preselected as Liberal candidate for Ben Carroll’s loseable seat of Niddrie ahead of Stefano Emodi, and related the further endorsement of candidates in Yan Yean (Amanda Dow), Ripon (Megan Read) and South Barwon (Libby Pettit). Elsewhere, the Herald Sun reports police detective Paul O’Halloran will be the Liberal candidate in Mordialloc.

Newspoll: Labor 29, One Nation 29, Coalition 18 (open thread)

The latest Newspoll finds improved personal ratings for Angus Taylor failing to translate on voting intention.

The Australian reports the latest Newspoll has Labor down a point on three weeks ago to 29%, its weakest result since the government came to power; the Coalition down a point to 18%, a point higher than its record low in late June; One Nation down a point to 29%; and the Greens up two to 14%.

The most substantial change in the poll is an improvement in Angus Taylor’s personal ratings, his approval up four to 34% and disapproval down five to 46%. Only net ratings are provided for Anthony Albanese, who is down from minus 18 to minus 22 (UPDATE: down two on disapproval to 37% and up two on disapproval to 59%), and Pauline Hanson, who is down from neutral to minus three (UPDATE: down one on disapproval to 46% and up two on disapproval to 49%). Albanese’s lead over Taylor on preferred prime minister narrows from 44-36 to 44-37, while a three-way question has Anthony Albanese steady on 46%, Pauline Hanson down one to 31% and Angus Taylor up one to 23%. The report also says that some manner of head-to-head result has Albanese leading Hanson 56-44. The poll was conducted Monday to Friday from a sample of 1242.

RedBridge Group: Coalition 30, Labor 23, One Nation 22 in Victoria

A poll conducted in the immediate aftermath of last week’s leadership change finds Victorian Labor still headed for defeat, with One Nation losing ground.

The Financial Review has the first Victorian state poll since last week’s leadership change, courtesy of RedBridge/Accent Research. The results are not encouraging for Labor, who are down three on the same pollster’s result a month ago to 23%. The Coalition is up four on a soft primary vote result last month to 30%, but One Nation is down five to 22% while the Greens gain one to 14%. Labor trails the Coalition 57-43 on two-party preferred; the Financial Review’s graphic confusingly has One Nation with a 54-43 lead over the Coalition. Ben Carroll records a minus 15% on net favourability, though 57% said they had no strong impression of him. Jess Wilson is unchanged at plus 13% net favourability. Nineteen per cent said the leadership change made them more likely to vote Labor compared with 14% for less likely and 56% for no difference. The poll was conducted Tuesday to Saturday from a sample of 1014.

UPDATE: I missed another poll out overnight, from Freshwater Strategy in the Herald Sun, although its field work period of July 21 to August 3 began well before the leadership change on July 28. It has the Coalition at 30%, up three on the last such poll in June; Labor at 25%, up two; One Nation at 22%, down three; and the Greens steady at 14%. The Coalition’s two-party lead is in from 53-47 to 52-48. Ben Carroll records 21% favourable, 31% neutral and 29% unfavourable; Jess Wilson 39% favourable, 25% neutral and 21% unfavourable. The sample for the poll was 1020.

Further Victorian election news:

• The government’s legislation to abolish group voting tickets is now before the upper house, having been introduced to the lower house on the same day Jacinta Allan was deposed and passed the following day. Reflecting the practice for the Senate, above-the-line voters will be directed to fill a number of boxes above the line equal to the number of vacancies (so five rather than six for the Senate), though a savings provision will in fact mean that a single number one will suffice for a formal vote. Since the legislation leaves intact the state’s eight five-member regions with their quota for election of 16.7% (abolishing them would require a referendum), Labor, the Coalition, One Nation and the Greens seem likely to dominate.

• One Nation finally announced a slate of eight candidates yesterday, and designated state party president Warren Pickering as its prospective parliamentary leader, and candidate for the lower house seat of Pakenham. The others named were lead upper house candidates: high-profile Liberal Party defector Colleen Harkin in South-Eastern Metropolitan; Mark Nicholson, the animator behind the party’s cartoon web series and Super Progressive Movie feature, in Northern Metropolitan; Chris Burson, Geelong councillor and former police officer and Angry Victorians candidate, in Western Victoria; criminal lawyer Aaron Sandford in Southern Metropolitan; Fiona Lopez in Western Metropolitan; Natalie Adams in Eastern Metropolitan; and the party’s sole incumbent, Rikki-Lee Tyrrell, who will seek re-election in Northern Victoria.

• As well as Jacinta Allan announcing she will not contest the next election, creating a vacancy in her seat of Bendigo East (margin 10.8%), two further senior ministers announced their impending retirements in the wake of last week’s leadership change: Climate Change Minister Lily D’Ambrosio, who holds Mill Park on a margin of 11.6%; and Health Minister Harriet Shing, who was second on Labor’s Eastern Victoria upper house ticket in 2022.

• Kim O’Keeffe announced last fortnight she will not recontest Shepparton, which she gained for the Nationals from independent Suzanna Sheed in 2022. Chip Le Grand of The Age reports Steve Threlfall, a Shepparton councillor and shooting and sports store owner, has confirmed he is seeking One Nation preselection, and there are suggestions the mayor, Shane Sali, could ran for One Nation or either of the Coalition parties.

• Will Fowles, who became Labor’s member for Ringwood in 2022 and resigned from the parliamentary party in August 2023, has announced he will not stand at the election.

RedBridge Group: Labor 29, One Nation 31, Coalition 22 (open thread)

One Nation records its best poll result in six weeks, as Labor slumps on various two-party preferred measures.

The Financial Review has its monthly poll from RedBridge Group/Accent Research, which is somewhat at odds with recent trends in recording a two-point rise for One Nation to 31%, equalling their best-ever result the month before last, and the Greens slumping four points to 10%. Less unusual is a four-point rise for the Coalition to 22%, but it’s typically been accompanied by softer results for One Nation. Labor meanwhile is down a point to 29%.

Labor’s respondent-allocated two-party lead over One Nation narrows from 56-44 to 53-47, and it records what may be its worst result of the term in trailing the Coalition 52-48, after leading 54-46 last month. Using preference flows from the previous election (which involves extrapolating the 6.4% who voted One Nation to the 31% recorded in the current poll), a Labor lead of 55-45 last month becomes a 50-50 tie.

For leadership ratings, only net favourability is provided – I will hopefully be able to break this out into favourable and unfavourable later today. Anthony Albanese is down a point to minus 19; Angus Taylor is up three to minus six and Pauline Hanson is steady on minus 10. The three-way preferred prime minister result has Anthony Albanese down a point to 32%, Pauline Hanson up one to 24% and Angus Taylor up four to 15%. The poll was conducted last Monday to Thursday from a sample of 1001.

UPDATE: Leadership ratings have Anthony Albanese down a point on favourable to 30%, up three on neutral to 19% and steady on 49% unfavourable; Angus Taylor is up three to 20%, up three to 31% and steady on 26%; and Pauline Hanson down one to 36%, up four to 15% and down one to 46%. Also featured in the poll are one off personal ratings for Gina Rinehart (27% favourable, 27% neutral, 36% unfavourable) and John Howard (43%, 28% and 21%).

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