The survey of 2250 voters, conducted from November 2 to 7, found Labor's primary vote had fallen one point to 28 per cent, equal to a post-election low, while the Coalition also slipped one point to 22 per cent and One Nation held steady on 25 per cent. The Greens rose one point to 13 per cent after David Shoebridge replaced Larissa Waters as leader.
Labor's two-party-preferred vote was at a record low, and Mr Albanese's status as preferred prime minister dropped three points to 29 per cent, matching the record low set in September. Coalition leader Angus Taylor rose three points to 25 per cent, and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson fell two points to 24 per cent.
The poll came as the Reserve Bank raised interest rates for the fifth time this year, taking interest rates to an 18-year high of 4.85 per cent, and September's inflation figure came in higher than expected at 4.3 per cent. Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock has spoken about Australians feeling like they are in a recession.
Mr Albanese criticised the Reserve Bank's latest rate hike as a “blunt instrument”. In an interview published on Saturday, he pointed to the Iran war and tariffs as key reasons for the Republican losses in the US midterms, a result opposition frontbencher Dan Tehan said Labor should heed.
“Prime Minister Albanese, Jim Chalmers and [Energy Minister] Chris Bowen should be paying very close attention [to the US midterm results],” Mr Tehan told ABC's Insiders. “Cost of living was a key issue there that drove the change there, and I think people didn't feel like the government, the Trump administration, was really 100 per cent focused on that. And I think it's exactly the same here in Australia.”
The scandal over a $6 million grant to the Marrickville Golf Club, in Mr Albanese's electorate of Grayndler, has also damaged trust. Only 20 per cent of voters said they still trusted “what Albanese says and promises”, down six points since September, while 22 per cent said they had lost trust in him. A further 43 per cent agreed that they “did not trust Albanese before this anyway”, up nine points since the question was last asked in September.
Mr Albanese's net performance rating, the share who rate his performance good or very good minus those who rate it bad or very bad, has equalled the record low set in January this year, at -22 per cent. Just 34 per cent said he was doing a good or very good job, while 56 per cent said poor or very poor.
In contrast, 42 per cent of voters said Mr Taylor was doing a good or very good job, and 33 per cent said poor or very poor, continuing a trend of small monthly improvements for the opposition leader. Ms Hanson's “good” performance rating remained steady at 45 per cent, while the proportion of voters who rated her performance as poor rose one percentage point to 42 per cent.
Resolve Political Monitor pollster Jim Reed said the findings showed that “although Albanese, Chalmers and Labor are shedding personal capital at a rate of knots, their vote is holding up”.
“Most damaging is that the PM is only trusted by a fifth of voters now. This is part being seen as distracted from the priority issues, like tackling inflation, but also the cumulative effect of surprise tax changes and the local grant program that have some voters questioning what's coming next,” he said.
Mr Albanese's likeability rating has fallen to a net negative of -19 per cent, a record low, down four points in the past month. Mr Taylor rose three points to plus 11 per cent, opening a 30-point gap. Ms Hanson's net likeability rose to plus 4 per cent. The Labor Party's net likeability fell two points to -13 per cent, while the Liberal Party's rose seven points to plus 11 per cent.
Keeping the cost of living low remains voters’ top policy priority by an overwhelming margin, with 41 per cent nominating it as their number one issue.