Newspoll: Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese’s budget flops with every generation of voters
A special post-budget Newspoll reveals Jim Chalmers has handed down the most unpopular budget since 1993 and eclipsed the visceral reaction to Joe Hockey’s austerity budget of 2014.
Geoff Chambers
Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese’s big-taxing budget has been rated the worst for the economy since 1993, with younger Australians unconvinced that Labor’s new measures will reduce inflation or deliver on intergenerational equity and housing.
A special post-budget Newspoll commissioned by The Australian – which includes core budget questions that have been asked over decades – shows voters believe this year’s budget will have a more savage impact than Joe Hockey’s controversial austerity drive in 2014.
Despite more Australians believing last week’s budget will be bad for the economy and make them worse off, Labor’s primary vote remained static at 31 per cent, with the Coalition dropping a point to 20 per cent and One Nation jumping from 24 per cent to 27 per cent following David Farley’s victory in the Farrer by-election.
As the Prime Minister and the Treasurer sell the budget as the nation’s best opportunity to solve the housing crisis, Newspoll reveals 47 per cent of Australians believe the “budget is driving a wedge between younger and older generations”, and 60 per cent think Labor’s housing measures are “a step in the wrong direction” or “will make no difference”.
After the Treasurer last week used his budget to break election promises and crack down on negative gearing, capital gains tax discounts and trusts, Dr Chalmers and Mr Albanese will travel the nation this week to sell one of the most poorly received budget in nearly 33 years.
The Newspoll, conducted between Thursday and Sunday, found 47 per cent of voters believe the budget will be bad for the Australian economy compared with 22 per cent who said it would be good.
The minus 25 net approval rating for Dr Chalmers’ fifth budget compares with the minus nine rating that was recorded following the Abbott government’s controversial austerity budget (39 per cent good versus 48 per cent bad) in 2014.
The 1993 budget handed down by the Keating government is considered the worst in Newspoll history, after Paul Keating broke core election promises headlined by abandoning the infamous “L-A-W” tax cuts and increasing taxes.
That Labor budget, prepared by then-treasurer John Dawkins, received a record minus 42 ranking, with 62 per cent saying it would be bad for the economy compared with 20 per cent who said it would be good.
Newspoll, which included a sample size of 1252 voters, revealed there was no cohort across all demographics, including among Labor voters, where more people expected to be better off than worse off in the wake of Dr Chalmers’ budget.
More than half of Australians (52 per cent) expect to be personally worse off as a result of the budget, while just 11 per cent expect to be better off and 37 per cent expect to be neither better nor worse off. Despite the Prime Minister supporting blanket grandfathering across tax changes, 67 per cent of people who own investment properties said they would be worse off.
In a concerning trend for the government, only 10 per cent of renters expect to be better off compared with 44 per cent who believe they will be worse off and 46 per cent who think the budget will make no difference.
After Angus Taylor used his budget-in-reply speech on Thursday to set up a war between the Coalition and Labor over tax cuts, the Newspoll found 39 per cent of voters believed the Coalition would have delivered a better budget compared with 47 per cent who said it wouldn’t, which is almost identical to the result recorded by Peter Dutton’s opposition following last year’s pre-election budget.
As Mr Albanese and Mr Taylor embark on campaign-style tours of the country to sell their competing economic manifestos, the Newspoll revealed deep concerns over the budget dividing the community, increasing inflation, failing to reverse the housing crisis and driving-up taxes.
More women believe the budget is driving a wedge between younger and older generations and that it will make inflation worse, won’t be good for the economy and make them worse off.
Amid fears over more rate hikes and ongoing cost-of-living pressures, almost one in two voters believe the budget will make inflation worse, compared to only 9 per cent who say it will make it better and 32 per cent who say it will make no difference. Coalition, One Nation and independent voters were more likely to say the budget would fuel inflation.
The government’s big sell on its $47bn housing program and crackdowns on negative gearing and CGT appears to have a long way to go, with just 27 per cent of voters saying the budget was a step in the right direction. In contrast, 38 per cent said the budget was a step in the wrong direction and 22 per cent said it would make no difference.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/newspoll-jim-chalmers-and-antho...
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