In February, the Coalition and its leader, Peter Dutton, were riding high in the polls as the unofficial election campaign began to unfold.
For the first time in the 2022–2025 parliamentary term, the Coalition had a decent lead in the polls, up 52% to 48% in aggregate.
Meanwhile, bookies had the Coalition as the odds on favourite to form the next government, despite the deeply challenging electoral calculus they faced due to the loss of multiple key former ‘Blue Ribbon’ seats to various Teal independents.
