Labor hits back at shock poll labeling the PM a ‘beta male’ and ‘weak’ as Anthony Albanese loses support for not doing enough about the cost-of-living crisis

A Labor minister has dismissed opinion polls that characterized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as a “follower, not a leader,” “bland” and a “beta male” who was ineffective in tackling the country's cost-of-living crisis .

The disparaging labels emerged in focus groups conducted in marginal seats in Queensland and South Australia by Victorian polling firm RedBridge for NewsCorp.

During an interview with Sky News on Sunday, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt stressed Albanese was making “difficult” decisions.

“So I'm not concerned about these kinds of comments and I think the data shows that Albo and the whole Cabinet made the tough decisions that the country needed to make,” Mr Watt said.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt (pictured left having a beer with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese) says he's not concerned about unfavorable comments from focus groups

However, Mr Watt admitted the focus groups showed skyrocketing costs were a major issue for Australians.

“What I think it highlights is the importance of the cost of living issues that so many Australians face,” he said.

'It's clear that when people are struggling, as they are now, they expect the government to take tough action to tackle cost-of-living issues, and that's exactly what we're doing.'

Mr Watt downplayed Mr Albanese's reported personal assessments.

“I'm not too worried about that,” he told Sky News political editor Andrew Clennell.

'It is, as you say, a focus group and in focus groups all kinds of people say all kinds of things.

“I think if I were walking down the main street of Brisbane this morning there would be a few people giving me a free character assessment too.”

Since the resounding defeat of the proposed Indigenous Voice to parliament in a referendum in mid-October, Labor polls have started to fall.

Mr Albanese (pictured outside his Marrickville home) is facing declining popularity in recent polls

This trend has been exacerbated by outrage over the Albanian government's handling of a Supreme Court ruling to release immigration detainees with serious criminal backgrounds into the community.

Monday's Newspoll showed the Prime Minister's approval rating had sunk to its lowest level since Labor came to power 18 months ago.

It also showed that Labour's primary vote was in freefall four points to 31 percent in the past three weeks, while the Coalition's is up one point to 38 percent – ​​the highest support since the May 2022 election.

On a two-party preferred basis, Labor and the Coalition are tied 50–50 in the poll, which would likely result in Labor losing five seats and its majority if an election were held now.

Redbridge surveyed voters from the electorates of Brisbane, Griffith, Ryan, Sturt and Boothby.

Participants expressed a worrying perception for Labor that Mr Albanese was distracted by issues that were not of central importance to most Australians

“He hasn't really addressed the cost of living and I understand there are global factors at play, but I don't think he's taken much concrete action on it,” one attendee said.

“I just don't see much action on cost-of-living pressures. He is missing and now he is fleeing abroad again,” one person said.

Even Mr. Albanese's working-class authenticity, normally considered one of his strengths, came into question.

“He's playing on Australian colloquialisms and wearing that damn Rabbitoh cap, it makes me cringe. It looks so staged,” one focus group participant noted.