Labor Leadership Change Yields Mixed Poll Results Ahead of Election
AI-generated context summary requested by a Free News Reader user. Sourced via Gemini from publicly available information — no paywalled content was accessed.
You hit a paywall. Here’s the context on this topic based on publicly available information. We did not access any paywalled content. View original article.
Labor Leadership Change Yields Mixed Poll Results Ahead of Election
- New Victorian Premier Ben Carroll's approval rating stands at 51% in early August 2026, an increase of 18.5 percentage points since April 2026 when Jacinta Allan was Premier.
- Despite this personal approval, the Labor Party's primary vote remains tied with the L-NP Coalition at 26% in early August 2026, according to a Roy Morgan poll.
Full Summary — powered by AI
Victoria’s Labor Party underwent a leadership change on July 28, 2026, with Ben Carroll replacing Jacinta Allan as Premier. This change occurred just four months before the state election scheduled for November 2026.
Recent polls indicate mixed results for the Labor government following this transition. A DemosAU/PremierNational poll conducted from August 6-11, 2026, showed Labor’s primary vote at 23%, a 2-point increase since June, but still trailing the Liberal/National Coalition at 32%. On a two-party preferred basis, the Coalition leads Labor 55% to 45%, unchanged from a June poll.
However, Premier Carroll’s personal approval ratings have seen a notable improvement. A Roy Morgan poll from August 5-7, 2026, reported that 51% of electors approve of his performance, an 18.5 percentage point rise since April 2026. Carroll also leads Opposition Leader Jess Wilson as the preferred premier, 46.5% to 35.5%, in the same poll. This contrasts with earlier polling where Wilson had a commanding lead over former Premier Allan.
Upon taking office, Carroll announced his intention to hold a royal commission into the construction sector and establish a special prosecutor, aiming to address integrity concerns and differentiate his leadership from his predecessor. Jacinta Allan’s premiership, which began on September 27, 2023, faced challenges including declining approval ratings and a corruption scandal involving the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU).