ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER LABOR PRIMARY VOTE COLLAPSE: IPSOS

2 days left until polling day, and Labor's primary has collapsed again, this time in the previously anomalied IPSOS poll...

The latestThe Australian Financial Review/Ipsos pollshows Labor’s primary vote lead over the Coalition has shrunk by 5 percentage points since the previous poll 12 days ago.

Excluding undecided voters, Labor’s primary vote has fallen two points to 36 per cent, while the Coalition’s first preferences have jumped three points from 32 per cent to 35 per cent.

The Greens are on 13 per cent, One Nation 5 per cent, the United Australia Party 3 per cent and others and independents are on 8 per cent.

Bump after campaign launch

The poll, which has a margin of error of 2.3 per cent, was taken in the aftermath of Mr Morrison’s campaign launch in which he promised first home buyers the use of their superannuation to help buy a house.

It also followed his mea culpa late last week that he had been a “bulldozer” in terms of his forthright personal nature, and his promise of a softer, more empathetic approach if re-elected.

The poll showed a small increase in Mr Morrison’s rating as preferred prime minister.

As the prime minister and Labor leader Anthony Albanese stepped up their blitz of key seats on Thursday, the government was buoyed by an unemployment rate of 3.9 per cent for April,the lowest since 1974.

The government said the nation had come a long way from the dark days of the pandemic when Treasury was forecasting a 15 per cent unemployment rate.

https://www.copyright link/politics/federal/coalition-closing-the-gap-on-labor-in-final-days-20220519-p5amlj