Support for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party has risen to record levels in a new poll that also found a majority of voters think immigration is too high, and seven in 10 say there are tensions between the different races and nationalities in Australia.
According to an Essential Research poll from September 30, 13% of voters now support One Nation, while the far-left Greens have slumped to 11%. Support for Labor is also the highest since May 2023, on 35% of the primary vote, while the Coalition has crashed to a record-low of just 27%.
The results mirror a Resolve Political Monitor poll from mid-September which had One Nation on 12%, Labor on 37%, and the Greens and the Coalition on the same figures, and come after Australians turned out en masse for anti-immigration rallies on August 31.
Voters have abandoned the Coalition since leader Sussan Ley scrapped pre-election promises to cut permanent migration, while at the same time One Nation has been talking tough on the issue, with Senator Malcolm Roberts calling for remigration and mass deportations earlier this month.
The Essential Report also found that 53% of voters think the current permanent migration cap of 185,000 per year is too high, while 40% think it is about right and only 7% think it is too low. Voters were not asked about overall migration levels, which have been double or triple that figure in recent years.
Broken down by party, 40% of Labor voters said permanent migration was too high compared to 62% of Coalition voters and independent or other party voters, and even 32% of Greens supporters agreed.
Equal numbers said immigration is generally positive or negative for the country, but when separated by sex 46% of men said it was generally positive while only 37% of women agreed.
Asked about the statement “There is tension between the different races and nationalities in Australia”, 69% of those polled agreed, up from 59% in August last year, and 66% agreed that people are too scared to say what they really because they don’t want to be labelled as racist.
At the same time, the percentage agreeing with the statement “I think Australia is less racist than it has been in the past” has fallen to 42% from 50% in 2019, while the number reporting themselves or their families has having “experiencing racism or racial discrimination” have only changed by 1% or 2% since 2019.
The poll also found that 63% support Labor’s social media ban for under-16s, while 19% are opposed and the same number neither support nor oppose.
Asked about Australia recognising Palestine, 34% are in support, 35% neither support nor oppose, and 30% oppose.
