86% of Australians support the “right to disconnect”

YouGov
March 08, 2024, 12:38 AM GMT+0

YouGov’s latest public data poll has found that 86% of Australians support “the right to disconnect”, a recently passed legislation. Voters across the board support this new law.

However, Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, has expressed his intention to overturn this legislation. 35% of Australians have said this pledge makes them less likely to vote for the Coalition.

Comparatively, only 17% said this would make them more likely to vote for the Coalition, while 48% said this made no difference to their vote.

YouGov Director of Government, Paul Smith said “A massive 86% of Australians support the right to disconnect, and 35% say they are less likely to vote Coalition because of the commitment to repeal the legislation. The Coalition will have to reconsider its opposition right to disconnect in light of these numbers.”

This poll also covered voter intention for March, revealing a steady two party preferred vote, but also a notable jump in approval for the current Prime Minister.

Labor continues to consolidate a steady support in the first few months of this year, with 52% of the two-party preferred vote.

Labor’s primary vote once again remains unchanged at 32%, while the Greens are up 2 to 15%. The Coalition’s primary vote has risen by 1% to 37% at the expense of the One Nation who are down 2% to 6%.

The net satisfaction for both party leaders once again remains negative, however the Prime Minister has improved his standings remarkably, while the Leader of the Opposition has gone backwards.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has had a significant improvement in net satisfaction (44% satisfied to 50% dissatisfied), up 10 points to -6, from -16 last month.

Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton’s satisfaction has taken a hit and, for the first time since the referendum on the Voice, has a lower net satisfaction than the Prime Minister at –10 (39 satisfied 49 dissatisfied). His score has decreased two points, from –8 in our last survey.

Anthony Albanese has doubled his lead as the preferred Prime Minister since our last poll with 48% support, increasing 3% from last month. Peter Dutton lost 4% of support, slipping to 34%. This gap has doubled to 14 points, also the largest lead since before the Voice Referendum.

18% of Australians don’t prefer either party Leader as Prime Minister.

Paul Smith said “Anthony Albanese has returned his preferred Prime Minister lead on Peter Dutton to the large margin seen before the Voice referendum. This, along with Labor consolidating its two-party preferred vote back to an election winning lead, are clear signs that Labor’s standing has benefited from its tax cuts plan.”

Methodology: This survey was conducted between 24 February and 5 March with a sample of 1539. Results are weighted to be representative of the population by age, gender, education, AEC region, household income, weighting by past vote (Federal vote and Voice referendum), with a margin of error of 3.12%. See Australian Polling Council methodology statement for full weightings.

YouGov correctly predicted the result of the recent referendum at 40% Yes, 60% No, and is a founding member of the Australian Polling Council, as well as a global leader in polling research. We are the only polling company to have polled our entire panel of survey participants to ensure our polls are representative of how Australians vote in the Voice referendum.

For further information or comment contact Paul Smith, Director of Government paul.smith@yougov.com or Amir Daftari, Director of Polling amir.daftari@yougov.com.