The Victorian election race appears to be tightening three weeks out from polling day, with Labor in danger of slipping in to minority government.
A Newspoll published by The Weekend Australian late on Friday shows Labor’s primary vote has fallen to 37 per cent, down four per cent from late August and now equal to the coalition.
Its two-party-preferred lead over the coalition has also been whittled down to 54-46 per cent, compared to 56-44 per cent five-and-a-half weeks earlier.
If that result was replicated on November 26, the Andrews Labor government would suffer a 3.3 per cent swing against it but likely secure a third successive term in office.
But it could put the party in jeopardy of shedding up to 10 seats, with the government holding a 12-seat notional majority after an electoral boundaries redistribution last year.
More than a quarter (26 per cent) of the 1007 Victorian voters surveyed from Monday to Thursday were considering casting their ballot for minor parties or independents.
Premier Daniel Andrews’ satisfaction rating has fallen three per cent to 51 per cent, pushing up the Labor leader’s dissatisfaction rating to 44 per cent.
Liberal leader Matthew Guy’s satisfaction rating sits at 32 per cent but his dissatisfaction rating has risen three per cent to 52 per cent.
Asked who would make a better premier, Mr Andrews still came up trumps with voters on 52 per cent with Mr Guy on 33 per cent.
The latest Newspoll comes after the premier batted away repeated questions on the campaign about a 2013 car crash involving his family and an Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission draft report.
The corruption watchdog secured an injunction to prevent the publication of any information within the proposed report by Nine newspaper The Age.
In a statement on Friday evening, the watchdog said the secret investigation did not meet its thresholds to hold public hearings and it would be unfair to people involved if preliminary findings or other private information became public.
– AAP
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