Newspoll: Shock result as Peter Dutton’s Coalition pulls into lead over Anthony Albanese and Labor

Anthony Albanese and Labor’s slide has worsened, with Peter Dutton’s Coalition pulling ahead of the Government on two-party preferred support for the first time since the 2022 election.

The dramatic turnaround in political fortunes for the Liberals, revealed in a Newspoll published in The Australian, comes at the expense of Labor’s vision for a second term majority.

And will mount pressure on the performance of Mr Albanese.

While the Liberals’ 51 per cent two-party preferred support is not enough to win Government at the next election, Labor’s tumble would see it forced to negotiate with the Greens and crossbenchers to remain in power.

Primary support for the majors remained unchanged, with the Coalition benefitting from changing votes for the minor parties and independents.

Labor’s vote has slowly fallen over the course of the term, from a high of 57 per cent after winning Government in May 2022.

The result is also embarrassing Mr Albanese, who last month boasted about not losing a Newspoll this term in a Perth radio interview.

“We haven’t lost a Newspoll unlike every other government during every term since Newspoll started, I think, certainly since the last few decades,” he said.

The election, due to be held before May, is increasingly likely to return a hung parliament, forcing Mr Albanese to rely on support from the Greens and teal independents to stay in the Lodge.

Mr Albanese’s personal support dropped by six points to negative 14, its lowest point.

Mr Dutton’s support increased marginally to draw level.

The Prime Minister also lost a point as the nation’s preferred leader, but still leads Mr Dutton 45 per cent to 37 per cent — the best result this term for the Opposition Leader.

The change in support comes after a significant focus in Parliament last week on foreign affairs, driven by the first anniversary of the October 7 terror attacks on Israel.

In an exclusive interview with The Nightly last month, Mr Dutton highlighted an explosive column by former Labor State Secretary Cameron Milner on the stability of the Prime Minister’s leadership.

Mr Milner said he believed Labor needed to consider dumping Mr Albanese from the leadership.

“The real power lays with the Labor Caucus that, with a simple vote of 50 plus one, can simply decide a new way to elect the next Prime Minister of Australia for Labor,” Mr Milner wrote

“Thus the nuclear option for Labor is really at the fingertip of every Labor MP.”

Mr Dutton pointed to senior ministers as leadership contenders, including Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and new Immigration Minister Tony Burke.

The election, which must be held by May next year, with a 33-day campaign in the lead-up.

Polling day is unlikely to be called for the summer period between mid-December and Australia Day with most voters tuning out.

“There’s still a prospect of going to an election this year, particularly if, as we saw with Cameron Milner’s piece in The Nightly if those drums are starting to beat for Labor and they believe that the positions not going to be recovered under Anthony Albanese,” Mr Dutton said.