Surprising new poll shows Aussie voters' intense reaction to the Albanese government's tax-heavy Budget - as One Nation claws its way even higher

By ASHLEY NICKEL, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 15:46, 17 May 2026 | Updated: 15:46, 17 May 2026 Jim Chalmers has delivered the worst received Federal Budget since 1993, a new survey has shown, with support for Labor falling as more frustrated voters look towards Pauline Hanson's right-wing party for a solution. A post-Budget Newspoll for The Australian surveyed 1,252 voters between Thursday and Sunday following Chalmers' delivery of the budget on Tuesday. It found an incredible 47 per cent of voters believe Labor's latest budget will worsen Australia's economy while just 22 per cent believed it would do good. That left the budget, lauded by Labor for offering massive reforms to level intergenerational wealth inequality, with a net -25 approval rating. If those figures weren't enough to worry Labor, the poll also found that while its primary vote had held steady at 31 per cent, Hanson's One Nation's had risen from 24 per cent to 27 per cent. Primary support for the Coalition dropped one point to 20 per cent. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Chalmers are set to continue selling the budget this week. However, one key point of contention has been Labor's broken election promise not to touch the discount on capital gains tax and negative gearing. Anthony Albanese's (above) delivered its Federal Budget on Tuesday. An incredible 47 per cent of voters believe Labor's latest budget will worsen Australia's economy While the poll was a blow to Labor's budget, Pauline Hanson's (above) One Nation recorded another rise in popularity The CGT discount is set to be axed while negative gearing was grandfathered, meaning new investors will be blocked from the scheme while those with existing negatively geared assets can continue using it. Labor has since argued it was necessary to make the changes in order to help young Australians buy their first home.  The Newspoll found 47 per cent of voters thought the 'budget is driving a wedge between younger and older generations' and 60 per cent believed it was a 'step in the wrong direction' or 'will make no difference' to the housing market. More than half of those surveyed, 52 per cent, believed they would personally be worse off from the budget, compared to 11 per cent who thought they'd be better off and 37 per cent who didn't expect to be affected.  Only 26 per cent believed the budget would actually balance intergenerational wealth differences while 47 per cent believed it would worsen the wedge.  Renters were particularly disappointed in the budget with 44 per cent believing their finances would worsen and only 10 per cent expecting to be better off.  Opposition leader Angus Taylor's fiery budget response speech on Thursday resulted in 39 per cent of voters believing the Coalition would have delivered a better budget. However, 47 per cent of voters didn't think a Coalition budget would be an improvement. Angus Taylor (above) beat Albanese in net approval rating with a score of -12, compared to Albanese's -17 Almost one in every two voters believed the budget would worsen inflation, comapred to nine per cent who believed it would improve under Labor's new policies and 32 per cent who didn't think it'd make a difference either way. The shocking Newspoll results rival that of the Keating Government's 1993 budget, considered the worst received budget in Newspoll history. That Labor budget copped a -42 net approval rating with 62 per cent of voters believing it would worsen the economy and just 20 per cent believe it would be good. Albanese's personal net approval rating remained at -17 while Taylor's fell a point to -12. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.