Early voting has again been popular this election, with nearly half the electorate already having cast a vote in one form of another. For those people, the latest political developments, such as the Liberal Party’s official campaign launch and Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s first-homebuyer assistance plan, can have no impact on their decision. Nor can Labor’s announcement that it will have larger budget deficits than the Coalition.
That leaves both leaders trying to convince the remaining cohort of voters who are yet to make up their mind — and many of them won’t decide until they are in the polling booth. Both Mr Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese are crossing the country in an effort to secure those votes.
Opinion polls, meanwhile, are doing what they tend to do every election — getting closer as the day nears. That’s down to two phenomena, undecided voters finally making up their minds, and pollsters “herding” towards the same numbers in fear of being the outlier.
Labor knows it has a mountain to climb if it is to hold all its seats and claim another seven to form government. However, actions speak louder than words (and published polls) and Mr Albanese is happy to spend time the day before polls close campaigning in the safe Liberal seat of Sturt in South Australia. With limited hours left to shore up votes in marginal electorates, political commentators suggest Mr Albanese must be feeling confident if he is spending time in a seat held by the Liberal Party on a 6.9 per cent margin.
For Mr Morrison, the closing of the gap with Labor has provided the Coalition with momentum going into the last few days of the campaign. Mr Morrison is confident that his message of security and stability has cut through with voters. Despite the polls suggesting a Labor win is a possibility, no-one would be prepared to write off Mr Morrison’s chances.