Voter message to Minns 'a wake-up call' for Labor

Voters have delivered a sobering reminder to the NSW government, with Labor’s support falling less than a year after the party took office.

Labor’s primary vote has dropped to 34 per cent, while the coalition’s primary support has increased to 38 per cent, a Resolve Political Monitor poll published by the Sydney Morning Herald shows.

When it came to power in March 2023, Labor had a primary vote of 37 per cent, while the coalition garnered 35.4 per cent.

“The temptation is to say there’s only one poll counts (the election) and to shrug it off,” Premier Chris Minns said on Tuesday.

“But I have to say we take it seriously and it’s a good wake-up call for the government.”

The message to MPs would be to have a renewed focus on living cost increases that were affecting families, he said.

“We have to constantly be working on their behalf and delivering to household budgets,” Mr Minns said.

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the Minns government could “lift our game”.

“I’m not surprised by the fact that people expect more from this government,” he told Sydney radio 2GB.

“It’s a sobering reminder to us that we have to stay focused on what the people of NSW elected us to do, which is to get on with the job of rebuilding essential services and deal with cost of living pressures.”

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey says new poll results are a “sobering reminder” for the Minns government. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

Mr Mookhey said over the past 12 months, the Labor government had been dealing with “standard turbulence” any government could expect to deal with.

But cost-of-living pressures were continuing to take its toll on residents with the poll indicating voters expected more help.

On the personal front, Mr Minns maintained a strong lead as preferred premier ahead of Opposition Leader Mark Speakman.

Some 35 per cent of those surveyed preferred Mr Minns, while 16 per cent favoured Mr Speakman.

Nearly one in two voters were undecided on who was their preferred state leader.