Scott Morrison is closing the gap on Anthony Albanese’s campaign lead with the latest poll showing the Prime Minister has gained significant ground in recent days.
Mr Albanese’s lead shrunk by 5 points in Thursday’s IPSOS poll over the 12 days since the last poll – putting the federal election on Saturday as ‘too close to call’.
The Liberal’s have based much of their campaign on appearing as stronger on national security and better at managing the economy – and it appears to have struck a chord with voters.
While Mr Morrison talked up the country’s record low unemployment rate of 3.9 per cent on Thursday, Labor unveiled their costings just two days out from voting day.
Labor’s Anthony Albanese (pictured with partner Jodie Haydon on Wednesday) might be starting to sweat with multiple polls showing Scott Morrison is closing in on his early election campaign lead
The numbers show an Albanese government would spend $7.4billion more than the Coalition with large investments in Medicare, cheaper childcare and free TAFE.
Thursday’s poll of just shy of 2,000 voters, conducted for the Australian Financial Review, shows of the primary vote 34 per cent would go to Labor down from 35 per cent on the May 8 poll.
The Coalition would get 33 per cent, a jump from 29 per cent on May 8, while the Greens are steady on 12 per cent.
Undecided voters dropped from 7 per cent to 5 per cent showing that those who didn’t know who they were going to vote for appear to have swung towards the Morrison camp over the course of the campaign.
Mr Morrison (pictured in Launceston with wife Jenny on Thursday) has been pushing the Coalition as stronger on national security and better at running the economy
Of the two-party preferred vote 49 per cent would go to Labor, down from 50 per cent, and the Coalition have seen a jump of 5 per cent points going from 35 to 40 per cent.
The remaining 11 per cent of voters were undecided but if these votes were allocated using preferences from the 2019 election it shows Labor at 53 per cent and the LNP at 47.
With an error margin of 2.3 per cent on the poll, the election appears to be too close to call.
While the Coalition has focused on economic and national security concerns, they could take a significant hit at ballot box from independents focusing on climate policy.
The so-called ‘teal independents,’ a greener shade of the Liberal Party´s traditional blue color, are vying for 22 seats and look to be making significant inroads.
The candidates’ mission is to lure moderate voters concerned by government inaction on climate change away from Liberal candidates in seats long regarded as conservative strongholds.
The Coalition’s right brand them as ‘fake’ independents because they are partially funded by Climate 200, a campaign war chest founded by wealthy former Liberal Party donor Simon Holmes à Court.
Critics argue Climate 200 is akin to a political party. But the teal candidates insist their funding comes with no strings attached, leaving them truly independent.
If teal independents gain the balance of power in a hung parliament, they could potentially pressure a minority government led by either the Liberal Party or the center-left Labor Party into greener policies than they would prefer.
Zali Steggall running for Warringah (pictured) and is one of a number of well funded and organised ‘teal independents’ focused on concrete climate action
The government aims to reduce Australia´s emissions by 26%-28% below 2005 levels by 2030. Labor has promised a 43% reduction.
Scott Morrison warned Australia would be damaged if the teal independents gain the balance of power.
‘A parliament driven by the daily musings of independents who haven´t had the experience to deal with the serious security and economic challenges our country faces, that is going to hurt people´s incomes, it´s going to hurt people´s jobs, it´s going to damage Australian security,’ he said.
Independent candidate for Wentworth, Allegra Spender (pictured second from left), holds a public forum on Monday