Exclusive polling: Premier’s star rises amid widespread protests
Passionate park lands protests are failing to dent Premier Peter Malinauskas’ stand out popularity. Exclusive polling reveals Labor is winning over a surprise group of SA voters.
Premier Peter Malinauskas and his Labor team is bucking the trend nationally and interstate by growing its primary vote by two points as it claws away voters from One Nation, according to new independent political polling from DemosAU.
A poll conducted from August 5 to August 26, during the height of widespread protests over the state government’s plans to build a MotoGP track in the Adelaide Park Lands, has also shown yet another stand out result for Malinauskas.
Numbers showed his preferred premier rating hit 46 per cent compared to One Nation Leader Cory Bernardi at 20 per cent and Ashton Hurn at 17 per cent.
On personal ratings, Malinauskas had a net positive score of 25 per cent compared to a -2 per cent for Hurn and -18 per cent for Bernardi.
And it was One Nation supporters that were making the largest impact on results.
Polling showed a four per cent swing from One Nation to Labor particularly among South Australians aged over 55 years and there was a similar swing among women compared to June polling. Women voters switching their voting intentions pushed Labor’s numbers up four per cent and One Nation down three per cent.
You might like
The polling, with a margin of error at 3.9 per cent, was collated at the height of protests over the city park lands with the Adelaide Park Lands Association’s ‘stop the chop’ rally seeing its largest turnout on August 23, with thousands marching from Victoria Square to Victoria Park to protest tree felling.
It followed months of protest action ranging from park lands marches to rallies on the steps of Adelaide’s Parliament House since May. A petition led by Park Lands protesters amassed more than 40,000 signatures and was tabled in parliament on August 19, triggering a parliamentary inquiry into the MotoGP and redeveloped North Adelaide golf course park lands plans.
When the more than 1000 South Australians were asked about the biggest issue facing Australia today, only two per cent named the environment and three per cent climate change.
“Peter Malinauskas is in a strong position in South Australia, having been able to increase Labor’s support by a further two per cent since our last poll in June, bringing the government back to its election-level support,” DemosAU Head of Research George Hasanakos said.
“The Malinauskas Government is in a very good place right now and even his personal ratings are improving.”
Stay informed, daily
Polling results have not been kind to the Opposition Liberal Party with figures showing Labor’s primary vote increasing two points since a June 2026 poll to 37 per cent, One Nation with 25 per cent, losing one per cent support, and Liberals on 17 per cent, also losing one per cent support.
On a two-party preferred basis, Labor leads One Nation 58 per cent to 42 per cent, Labor up two points and One Nation down two points.
Digging deeper into the research supported by ACE Strategies showed cost of living and inflation were nominated as the biggest issue for SA voters at 35 per cent, followed by housing at 22 per cent.
It comes as a Guardian Essential poll shows Labor’s national primary vote dropped five percentage points in a month, falling to 26 per cent as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese records his lowest approval rating as prime minister at 35 per cent.
One Nation recorded a primary vote of 23 per cent in that poll, down from a peak of 28 per cent.
“What stands out in this poll is the movement among older voters and women,” polling partner and Ace Strategies managing director Matt Neagle – a former ministerial adviser to former Liberal Leader and then Weatherill Labor Government Independent Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith – said.
“A four-point swing from One Nation to Labor in both groups is significant… they’re moving back toward the Premier.”
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
