Victorian premier Dan Andrews’ popularity plummets after gas ban and Commonwealth Games cancellation

Support for Daniel Andrews has plummeted weeks after he moved to ban gas in new homes and canceled the Commonwealth Games.

A new Solve Political Monitor In a poll, the Victorian government’s vote has fallen to 39 per cent, down from the previous vote of 41 per cent.

This is the lowest rate the Andrew government has surveyed since it reported 36 percent in November last year.

But the Andrews government is still ahead of the Victorian opposition, whose primary vote rose to 28 percent from 26 percent in June.

The Victorian Liberal opposition is also plagued by scandal, infighting and a revolving door of leaders.

While support for the Labor government has remained above the Liberal opposition, net sympathy between Mr Andrews and Opposition leader John Pesutto is much closer.

Mr. Andrews has dropped to a net likeability of minus seven, while Mr. Pesuttio is at minus nine.

This is the first time the Victorian Labor leader’s net sympathy has entered negative territory as his popularity falters.

Voters still strongly supported Andrews as prime minister of choice, but the gap between him and Pesutto fell to 15 percentage points in the most recent poll.

The Victorian premier sits on 44 percentage points while the opposition leader has jumped to 29 points.

This is the biggest gap between the two leaders of the Victorias since Matthew Guy ran against Andrews in the last state election, where there was a 14-point difference.

Interestingly enough, the poll’s results were primarily determined by whether or not voters liked Mr. Andrews.

Labor voters stuck with Mr Andrews because they saw him as a strong leader against a withered opposition that failed to gain traction.

Those who supported the coalition strongly opposed Mr Andrews and were highly critical of his decisions while in office.

Mr Andrews’ most recent controversial decision was to ban new homes from connecting to natural gas in a bid to push Victoria to halve carbon emissions by 2030.

Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio and Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny announced the energy supply changes last month, with the policy taking effect January 1, 2024.

In addition to housing, all new public buildings that have yet to reach the design stage by the closing date – including schools, police stations and hospitals – must be fully electric.

Business premises are exempt.

The Andrews government hopes these new changes will save up to $1,000 on household energy bills each year.

There is also hope that it will lead to money savings because households no longer need a gas connection.

The Victorian government has previously indicated that it will phase out gas use in homes.

The move came after Mr Andrews landed himself in hot water for sensationally scraping the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Victoria dropped out of hosting the Games in Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and Shepparton due to an expected cost blowout of up to $4.4 billion after initially budgeting $2.6 billion for the 12-day event.

No other Australian state or territory has come to the rescue, leaving the organizers of the Games without a host three years after the event.

Taxpayers are expected to pay $4.5 million in severance payments after the prime minister pulled the pin on the international sporting event.

Executive staff charged with overseeing the event will receive hefty payouts now that the tournament is off, Sky News Australia reports.

Sources told the TV station that each employee gets about $50,000.

This payout is expected to cover four weeks’ wages, plus benefits and entitlements.

These layoffs are just the tip of the iceberg of the overall cost of scrapping the Games.