One Nation has surged past Labor in the latest News24.com.au/YouGov poll, recovering its position as the most popular political party in the country.
Pauline Hanson’s party recorded 30 per cent of the primary vote in the poll – conducted from September 1-8 – an increase of four points from the previous survey.
Labor slumped to 26 per cent, down three points, while the Coalition fell even further behind on just 18 per cent, down two points.
The result comes just days after Mr Albanese declared he “owes it to history” to defeat One Nation, describing his political opponents as “dangerous” and “divisive”.
“We simply must defeat them. We owe it to history. We owe it to the nation. And we will defeat them,” Mr Albanese told the recent Queensland Labor Party conference.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland then went further and suggested One Nation had been “infiltrated by extremists and neo-nazis”.
Ms Hanson hit back, accusing the Prime Minister and Ms Rowland of inflaming political tensions and inciting violence by portraying her party as a threat.
She said voters should be able to support One Nation without being told they were backing a danger to Australia.
The latest poll suggests Mr Albanese’s strategy of attacking Ms Hanson has backfired, with Labor falling to its equal lowest primary vote since polling began.
The Albanese government would still narrowly win an election if it were held today, leading the Coalition 52-48 and One Nation 53-47 on a two-party preferred basis.
Mr Albanese also defeated Opposition Leader Angus Taylor 43-39 as preferred PM, and defeated Ms Hanson 51-40.
YouGov Director of Public Data Paul Smith said the poll results suggested the Coalition could be reduced to less than 11 MPs in the House of Representatives.
“The Coalition recording a lower primary vote than under Sussan Ley would reduce the Coalition to less than a cricket team in the House of Representatives,” Mr Smith said.
Despite One Nation’s historic surge, Mr Taylor has categorically ruled out a formal political coalition with Ms Hanson’s party.
Asked whether there was any circumstance in which he would form a Liberal-National-One Nation coalition, Mr Taylor told News24.com.au: “No”.
Mr Taylor said the Coalition needed to rebuild its support with voters rather than formally joining forces with One Nation.
He said many Australians wanted the Coalition to return to its traditional political foundations.
“When I get out and talk to people there are a lot of Australians who want us to go back to those core Liberal and National Party values,” he said.
“They’ll come back to us. I’m confident of that. I see that every single day and that’s why I’ve got out very early in this parliamentary term and laid out a plan for the future.”
Meanwhile, the three most popular parties have been locked in a heated battle over immigration.
Sixty-six per cent of voters said they wanted either a small or big reduction in migration figures.
That figure comprises of 42 per cent of people who want a “big reduction” and 24 per cent who want a “small reduction”.
Just 3 per cent of voters supported a “big increase” and four per cent of people wanted a “small increase” in the number of migrants.
It comes as the Albanese government searches for ways to bring net overseas migration down from 300,000 a year to its target of 225,000.
Immigration Minister Tony Burke was forced to cancel his speech to the National Press Club on migration after he failed to secure support from the Labor Party caucus.
The Coalition has yet to release its immigration policy, with Mr Taylor saying he will reduce net overseas migration to less than 200,000 per year.
One Nation has said it will achieve net overseas migration of 130,000 per year, but has endured weeks of confusion and representatives pushing different positions.
Most recently, One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce declined to guarantee that his party will deliver a lower permanent migration intake than Labor.
The refusal to commit to lower permanent migration comes despite an insistence that One Nation’s policy will cut net overseas migration to 130,000 a year.
Pressed on whether the current permanent migration program of about 180,000 people a year would be lower under One Nation, Mr Joyce declined to say.
“It’s dependent on other factors that make up the NOM (Net Overseas Migration),” Mr Joyce told News24.com.au.
He said he would “suggest very, very strongly” that One Nation’s permanent migration figure would be lower than Labor but stopped short of making a guarantee.
“We have a policy on the net overseas migration. Now, I would suggest very, very strongly that it would be,” Mr Joyce said.
“But I’m not going to go into the peculiarities of what two numbers make up net (overseas migration).
“But to get a NOM of 130,000, it’s going to be very hard to do that unless we’re substantially below the permanent migration numbers of Labor.”