Primary vote for the Coalition overtakes Labor ahead of Saturday’s Dunkley by-election

Latest polling figures has seen the Coalition overtake Labor in the first time since the they won the 2022 election, just days before an important by-election in the Melbourne seat of Dunkley. Polling conducted by Resolve Political Monitor for the Sydney Morning Herald found the primary vote for Labor dropped by one point from 35 to 34 per cent since December, while the Coalition gained ground from 34 per cent to 37 per cent. While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was still seven points ahead of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (39 to 32 per cent) as the preferred prime minister, the margin was also at its lowest since Labor was returned to power. The Australian’s Sunday Newspoll results show a similar grim outlook for Labor. The Coalition’s primary vote was ahead of Labor – 36 to 33 per cent – with the government falling by one point. However Labor still maintained a four point lead on the two-party preferred vote system, 52 to 48 per cent, two points higher than February’s polling. The Newspoll results also reported Mr Albanese gaining one point as the “better prime minister,” from 46 to 47 per cent, with Mr Dutton remaining steady on 35 per cent. 18 per cent were uncommitted. The bruising hit comes six days out from Saturday’s by-election in Dunkley. The seat was left vacant after Labor MP Peta Murphy died of breast cancer in December last year. Eight candidates will be running for the southeast Melbourne electorate, which was maintained by Ms Murphy in the 2019 election with a safe margin of 6.3 per cent. Frankston Mayor Nathan Conroy will be contesting the seat for the Liberal Party, while Frankston local and women’s advocate Jodie Belyea will fight for Labor to retain the electorate. Visiting the electorate on Sunday to launch Ms Belyea’s campaign, the Prime Minister spruiked his government cost-of-living relief like changes to the stage three tax cuts, The Australian reports. He took the opportunity to slam the Coalition for walking back their threats to fight the reforms. “What we got from the Coalition, from Peter Dutton, firstly, they said they’d oppose it and fight it. Then they said they’d roll it back. Then they said we should go to a full federal election on the basis of our commitment that we’re making, and then they changed their mind again and didn’t vote against it in the parliament,” he said. In February, a Newspoll revealed 62 per cent of voters backed Labor’s Stage Three tax cut changes, which redirected relief to low income earners, despite only 38 per cent of respondents believing they would benefit from the changes.