Newspoll: Young & female voters an issue for both Albo and Dutton as Aust set for hung parliament

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton face a growing problem with young and female voters, as the final Newspoll State breakdown before the next election shows Australia is headed for a hung parliament.

Published in The Australian, the breakdown of the last three months of polling shows a narrow contest across battleground states NSW and Victoria, while Queenslanders have shifted hard against Labor, with 57 per cent over voters preferring the Coalition.

Labor recorded a marginal improvement in its vote in Victoria, where the Coalition is confident of picking up seats to 51 per cent to 49 per cent.

In both NSW and South Australia, the race is now evenly split between the two majors, after a swing against the Government.

Only Western Australia — which emphatically re-elected the Cook Labor Government two weeks ago — did the Government hold up its vote, recording a primary of 37 per cent to the Coalition’s 34 per cent.

But the figures also show a growing divide amongst women and young voters, with Labor’s primary vote dipping to below 30 per cent for the first time with females.

Young voters aged 18 to 34 are almost evenly split between Labor, the Liberals and the Greens, with the Government holding a narrow edge over its competitors.

Mr Albanese still outranks Mr Dutton as the nation’s preferred leader, 45 per cent to 40 per cent, with the gap widest in WA, and the Opposition Leader holding a strong position in his home State of Queensland.

The Prime Minister’s lead over Mr Dutton was smaller among men than women.

The results show while the Coalition would have swings to it in important States of Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, it would likely be unable to win a majority of seats.

Labor would still be on track to lose seats in Victoria, but would hold most of its Western Australian seats, meaning it would be forced to negotiate with the Greens, Teals and other crossbenchers in order to hold government.

The polling comes ahead of what will be the final week of Parliament before the Federal Election is called, which will include Labor’s Budget.