A new poll suggests a small proportion of Liberal voters would be less likely to vote for the party because of its preference deal with One Nation in the coming Western Australia state election.
The survey showed 18.6% of Liberal voters in Chisholm and 15.9% in Reid said they would be less likely to vote for the party because of its deal with One Nation, while the percentage of those who remained unchanged in the two electoral divisions respectively stood at 66.1% and 65.5%.
Just over 51% of the total number of voters surveyed in both seats said their vote would be unchanged.
The survey’s findings showed the backlash against the Liberal party was highest among undecided voters.
The survey, conducted by ReachTEL for GetUp in two marginal federal Liberal seats, showed that about a third of all voters would reconsider voting for the Liberal party following last weekend’s deal.
It showed 60.6% of those surveyed in Chisholm in Victoria and 55.8% in Reid in New South Wales were concerned by the Liberal party’s decision to preference One Nation in the WA election. And 33.8% and 30.5% respectively – the majority undecided voters – said it would make them less likely to vote for the Liberal party.
ReachTEL surveyed 676 residents of Reid and 761 residents of Chisholm on Wednesday. Both seats have high proportions of people from non-English speaking backgrounds.
Shen Narayanasamy, human rights director for GetUp, said in a statement the parties that pandered to “parties and people explicitly opposed to multiculturalism” would find that doing so came at a significant electoral cost.
“If you get into bed with racists in the One Nation party, people who are impacted in their everyday lives by racism will be less likely to vote for you.
“People are very concerned that the Liberal party appears to have been captured by anti-multiculturalists, and what this means for people’s ability to live safely in a diverse Australia.”
GetUp would be campaigning amongst multicultural communities in marginal seats across Australia, she said.
Recent polling suggests One Nation is on track to win several seats in the WA upper house in the 11 March state election, and potentially the lower house as well.
One Nation was on as high a vote as 13% in WA, boosting the Liberal/National state government’s chances of securing a third term if the preference deal is effective. Most polls point to a Labor win.
While campaigning in Perth on Friday, the former prime minister John Howard said the decision to deal with the rightwing minor party was “very sensible [and] pragmatic”.
In 2001, he had instructed state divisions of the Liberal party to put One Nation last on how-to-vote cards. On Friday, he said: “Everyone changes in 16 years. ... This is a different set of circumstances. I think it’s entirely sensible that the [Liberal] party has done what it’s done.”
He went on to add that the only exception to the “everyone changes” rule was the Greens.
Another former prime minister, Kevin Rudd, criticised Howard’s about-turn, calling his endorsement of the preference deal as a “disgrace” on Twitter on Friday.
“Utter disgrace from John Howard. He defended Hanson in 1996. Now once again. Pushing the Liberals further to the right.”
Utter disgrace from John Howard.He defended Hanson in 1996. Now once again.Pushing the Liberals further to the right https://t.co/wnSOW71Qgy
— Kevin Rudd (@MrKRudd) February 17, 2017
