SYDNEY听–听Australia’s center-left Labor government is likely to retain power in a close-run national election this weekend, two opinion polls showed on Thursday, with voters ranking U.S. President 聽policies among their top concerns.
A RedBridge-Accent poll published by News Corp newspapers on Thursday showed Labor leading 53%-47% against the conservative Liberal-National coalition under Australia’s two-party preferential voting system, where votes are distributed until a winner is declared.
Labor could win the election in its own right or form a minority government, the RedBridge poll said, marking a聽聽of sentiment from February, when voters wanted Prime Minister聽聽out of office.
The lift in support for Labor late in the campaign is driven by Millennials and Generation Z voters, with one in five saying they had changed their mind, the RedBridge poll said.
Millennials and Generation Z voters make up 43% of the 18 million people enrolled under Australia’s mandatory voting system,聽听迟丑别听powerful Baby Boomer bloc.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals staged a major political comeback to retain power in聽 election, fueled by a backlash against Mr. Trump’s policies and his comments on making Canada the 51st U.S. state.
About 48% of Australian voters picked the uncertainties triggered by Mr. Trump as one of their top five concerns, while 42% remained wary of the opposition’s plans to build seven聽聽plants across the country to help replace coal-fired power.
The online poll of 1,011 voters was conducted between April 24 and 29.
Opposition leader聽聽has campaigned on several policies seen widely as emulating Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) set up by Elon Musk, though he later abandoned a policy that would have required government workers return to office full time.
Comparisons with Mr. Trump and his policies have聽 Mr. Dutton’s popularity in Australia, where a poll last month showed Australians’ faith in the United States had hit an all-time low.
A separate YouGov poll released on Thursday predicted a Labor majority, with the party likely winning up to聽85 seats聽in the 150-seat lower house and the opposition facing a net loss of 11 seats, its worst performance since 1946.
Mr. Albanese has been the poll results, saying it would be a close campaign. – Reuters
