Australia’s ruling Labor party has regained the lead in a national poll that showed all of the major political groupings remain unpopular with voters, as no party managed to breach 30%.
Labor’s support picked up to 29% in the Newspoll published in the Australian newspaper, while the far-right party One Nation dropped to second place with 28%. The traditional main conservative coalition saw a slight increase in its backing, rising to 20% from a nadir in the mid-teens earlier this year.
The results point to a high level of dissatisfaction in the electorate with the major parties, and no political leader managed to record a positive support rating. Australians are grappling with a rising cost of living from a combination of increasing interest rates and surging fuel prices.
The country was struggling with elevated inflation even before the US attack on Iran, and the central bank late last month increased the benchmark interest rate to a 15-year high of 4.6% to try to restrain consumer-price gains.
The poll was conducted last week and surveyed 1,241 voters across the country.
The next major electoral test for the parties will come at the end of next month when state elections are held in Victoria. The Liberal-National coalition looks likely to win that contest, as the incumbent Labor government has had a long stretch in office, though the coalition only polled 30% of the primary vote in a recent Redbridge poll .