The Labor Party’s convincing win in the weekend’s Federal Election shows the party’s ability to allay Australians’ concerns about tariff changes, the rising cost-of-living and the state of the nation, according to new data from Captify.
The statistics, released today by Captify, revealed that Australians were most concerned about the US-led “tariff trade wars”, the cost-of-living crisis particularly grocery prices and interest rates—and the state of the nation as they headed to the polls last Saturday.
The Labor Party’s win at polling booths followed strong positive search sentiment for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government in the seven day lead-up to the election, which reached 66.5 per cent, a big boost of 16.9 per cent from 49.6 per cent in late April — and up from 44.5 per cent at the end of January.
Positive sentiment was particularly strong among small business owners, rising to 46 per cent in April from 43 per cent in January, as well as high-net-worth voters, who also recorded 46 per cent positive sentiment in April.
Positive sentiment had significantly increased among Victorians and those living in the nation’s capital in the days before the election, with 54 per cent and 50 per cent of people respectively, showing their support for Albanese’s leadership.
Australians were paying close attention to the party leaders’ views on everything from international trade to grocery prices in the lead-up to the election, with strong search correlation between “election”, “election debate”, and key areas of concern.
Captify’s insights revealed that interest rates remained the most important issue for Australians as they cast their votes, with searches up nearly five times compared to the previous month, along with searches for “stock market,” (up 4.6 times), “jobs” (up 3.4 times), “Medicare” (up three times) and “immigration” (up 1.5 times).
US President Donald Trump’s confirmation that he would discuss tariff changes with Albanese gave the Labor Party a fresh vote of confidence at the polls. The data reveals a strong correlation between searches for “election” and “tariff trade wars” (48.8 per cent), indicating Australians were seeking answers about the impact of the US’s controversial tariff regime as they headed to polling booths.
Captify has been analysing onsite search data around the Federal Election since it was announced on the 28th of March, using its unique and rich insights to gauge the temperature of the nation.
“Our onsite search data predicted a Labor Party win at the polls, with strong positive sentiment for the Albanese government recorded for months leading up to the election”, said Jaclyn Hadida, Captify’s managing director, Australia. “It’s interesting to see the issues that have shaped the election, particularly rising concerns about the US tariff regime and its potential impact on trade and domestic product prices.”
“Captify’s ‘Search Intelligence’ has played a critical role in providing a comprehensive view of Australians’ perspectives as they headed to the polling booth. Our data was particularly valuable in providing in-the-moment, unprompted insights into the issues that mattered to voters.”
