ACT Election 2020: Despite decline in primary votes, Labor may win again

An opinion poll survey carried out by uComms has revealed that the Labor party is still treading the path of victory despite a fall in first preference votes in the party’s favour and a rise in that of the Liberals’

The 2020 general election for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Legislative Assembly is scheduled for October 17, the uncertain atmosphere created by the Covid-19 pandemic notwithstanding. The ACT Election Commission is gearing itself up to ensure that all the norms of social distancing and sanitizing are followed at the polling booths, while the voters themselves are being encouraged to vote early. All the eligible members of the electorate will be able to cast their votes between September 28 and October 17 to avoid overcrowding in any location.

Second term likely for Andrew Barr-led government

One of the most influential public policy think tanks of the country, the Australia Institute, recently published the outcome of a pre-poll survey carried out by uComms, an Australian market research and analytics platform, over a cross section of 1049 ACT inhabitants on July 20.

Interestingly, the first preference votes for the incumbent Labor party have dipped from 38.4 % in the 2016 elections to 37.5 % if the election were to happen now. However, this will still be enough to see them in the lead as the Green party, with whom the Australian Labor Party has been helming the ACT governance since the signing of a formal Parliamentary Agreement in 2016, has shown an impressive jump of almost 4% in its primary voting figures from 10.3 % in the last elections to 14%, according to the latest survey.

In a bid to garner support of the electorate, Andrew Barr declared on 3rd August that if elected for a second term the party would launch a $150 million interest-free loan scheme for home owners with land value of up to $600,000 to provide financial assistance in installingrooftop solar panels, household battery storage and hot water heat pumps. He also added that this would help to generate almost 1200 new job opportunities.

Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory Andrew Barr

Overwhelming support for truth in political advertising

The survey which was conducted primarily to comprehend public opinion regarding truth in political advertising revealed that almost 90 % of the ACT residents have an affirmative stance towards the implementation of such laws with the highest

proportion being Green voters, the figures being 94%, closely followed by 93% of those who are supporting independentsor others. Labor Party supporters stood at 91%, while those voting for the Liberals accounted for 84%.

Liberals not close to forming government

Although 38.2 % of the respondents claimed that they would cast their votes in favour of the Liberals, this 1.5 % increase as compared to the previous elections in which the party was led by the erstwhile opposition leader Jeremy Hanson will not be enough for them to topple the ruling party. Thus, the Liberals now spearheaded by Alistair Coe will once again find themselves in the role of the Opposition.

However, the Liberals have promised a slew of measures with one of the most ambitious ones being their declaration to increase tree cover by planting one million trees as according to Coe there are many areas like the Woden town centre and the Gungahlin town centre where green space is blatantly deficient. But the ACT government has been critical of what according to them is an unrealistic and unfeasible plan with no clarity on the strategy to achieve it.

Youngest voters exhibit strong inclination for Labor Party

While the Liberals are the uncontested favourites among the voters above 65 years with approximately 42% expressing support for them, the youngest age group comprising those aged between 18 and 34 years are strongly inclined to vote for the Labor party as 41 % answered that they would definitely vote for the incumbents. As far as the Greens are concerned, they appeared to be a popular choice for the 35-50 years age group.

By Deepika Banerjee