Debt fears grip voters as Albanese’s approval rating slides

Voters’ faith in Labor to manage the economy has crashed, with 74 per cent concerned about the federal debt and 48 per cent demanding the government slash spending.

After a week in which former prime minister Kevin Rudd warned that Australia risked becoming a second-rate country and former ACTU chief Bill Kelty accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers of fuelling support for One Nation and insulting voters by welcoming lower house prices, voters have marked down the government for its economic management.

Four months on from a May budget that made major changes to Australia’s property tax laws, Labor is going backwards as the party considered best placed to manage the economy through economic turmoil, while the prime minister’s personal approval rating continues to slide.

Just under a quarter of voters – 23 per cent – said they had lost trust in Albanese because of broken promises in the budget. This compares with 34 per cent of voters saying they didn’t trust him before the broken promises and 26 per cent saying they still trusted him.

The Resolve Political Monitor was conducted for this masthead from September 6 to 12 and surveyed 2250 voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 per cent.

There was little movement in vote support for the parties over the month. Labor ’s primary vote was 28 per cent in September’s Resolve poll, unchanged from last month, while the Coalition’s primary vote rose 1 percentage point to 24 per cent and One Nation also rose by 1 point in the past month, to 27 per cent.

Support for the Greens was down 1 point to 11 per cent.

The 1 percentage point rise in the Coalition’s primary vote and a 1 per cent rise in Opposition Leader Angus Taylor’s net performance rating are both within the margin of error, and the official opposition still trails One Nation and Pauline Hanson. But those small rises, combined with significant concern over debt and deficit, light a path for Taylor to follow through to political relevance and competitiveness.

Four months on from the introduction of investment tax increases in the May budget, more than a quarter of voters – 27 per cent – say the Liberals are best placed to manage the economy, while Labor at 23 per cent is only just ahead of One Nation at 21 per cent on this key metric.

Asked which party was best at managing the government’s finances, respondents also put the Liberals ahead of Labor and One Nation.

Voters’ worries about debt extended to state governments too, with 69 per cent concerned, just 11 per cent unconcerned and 20 per cent undecided. Victorians were the most likely to be concerned about state debt: 72 per cent agreed it was a worry, whereas 67 per cent in NSW were concerned and 63 per cent in Queensland.

Slashing spending is by far the most popular way to deal with debt and deficit, with 48 per cent mostly or only backing spending cuts, 10 per cent solely or mostly backing tax rises to deal with the problem and 42 per cent of voters supporting an equal balance between the two approaches.

Albanese’s preferred-prime minister rating took another hit, falling 3 percentage points in a month to 29 per cent, while One Nation leader Hanson’s preferred-prime minister rating fell 1 percentage point to 25 per cent and Taylor’s rating rose 2 points to 21 per cent. These latter two movements are inside the poll’s margin of error while Albanese’s is not.

A total of 35 per cent of voters rated Albanese’s performance as either good or very good, while 53 per cent said his performance was either poor or very poor, a figure unchanged from last month. Just 12 per cent of voters were undecided.

In contrast, 39 per cent of voters rated Taylor’s performance as good or very good, down 2 points on last month but still ahead of the prime minister, while 30 per cent said the opposition leader’s performance was either poor or very poor. Thirty-two per cent of respondents were undecided about the opposition leader’s performance, up 6 points in a month.

Hanson outscored both men on the question of leaders’ performance: 47 per cent rated her performance as either good or very good and 37 per cent as either poor or very poor – down 4 percentage points in a month, Fifteen per cent were undecided.

Albanese’s trust ratings were dire too, with 20 per cent of respondents saying they were more likely to vote Labor after the broken promises in May’s budget, 41 per cent saying they were less likely and 39 per cent saying the broken promises had no impact or they were unsure.

The growing disconnect between trust in the Labor Party, and Albanese, and support for the government’s budget measures is a problem for the prime minister and is also reflected in voters’ election expectations.

Despite the critical findings over Labor’s management of the economy and a drop in trust in the prime minister, support for lower house prices – the goal of Labor’s policy changes – is holding steady. Fifty-nine per cent of surveyed voters backed cheaper housing even as they marked the government down for breaking promises.

Just 9 per cent opposed lower house prices, while 30 per cent were neutral or undecided. These figures have barely shifted since the budget was handed down in May.

Labor has consistently commanded a strong lead in terms of voters’ expectations of who will win the next election, given the party holds 94 seats in the lower house. While 33 per cent still expect Labor to win, down 1 point on last month, One Nation enjoyed a massive bump in September.

The number of voters who believe One Nation will win the next election has risen from 17 per cent to 28 per cent in a single month, while the Coalition has held steady, with 18 per cent of voters expecting it to win.

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James Massola is Chief Political Commentator. He has previously been National Affairs
Editor and South-East Asia Correspondent, and has won Quill and Kennedy awards and is the 2026 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Connect securely on Signal @jamesmassola.01Connect via X or email.AdvertisementAdvertisement