New polling in the federal seat of Higgins shows a tight race between the Government and Opposition, with respondents indicating a substantial drop in the Liberal Party primary vote.

“This poll demonstrates landslide support for truth in political advertising laws (92%) in a campaign which has been marred by allegations of dishonesty and misinformation,” said Ben Oquist, Executive Director of leading public policy think tank, the Australia Institute.

“This poll also reflects strong opposition to opening new gas and coal projects.”

The poll was conducted by uComms with a sample size of 836 people via telephone on May 2, with a margin of error of 3.38%. The poll is Australian Polling Council compliant, with all questions and methodology publicly available.

Key findings:

• Liberal primary vote, including undecided leanings = 36.9%
• Labor primary vote, including undecided leanings = 29.8%
• Greens primary vote, including undecided leanings = 19.9%
• Two-party-preferred (based on historical preferences) 51% ALP v 49% Lib
• Two-party-preferred (based on respondent-allocated preferences) = 54% ALP v 46% Lib
• 92% of Higgins voters support truth in political advertising laws
• 52% of Higgins voters oppose new coal and gas projects, with only 31.5% in favour
• The Liberal Party was trusted more than Labor to manage the economy (44.3% v 36.9%), Greens 9.1% with 9.7% undecided.
• The Labor Party was trusted more than the Liberal Party to increase wage growth (42.6% v 32%), Greens 8.3% with 17.1% undecided
• The Labor Party was trusted slightly more (40.9%) than the Liberal Party (38.5%) to tackle the cost of living, but this was within the margin of error. The Greens polled 11%, with 9.5% undecided.