This report presents findings from the 2022 Australian Election Study (AES). The AES surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,508 voters after the 2022 Australian federal election to find out what shaped their choices in the election. The AES has fielded representative surveys after every federal election since 1987, which allows these results to be placed in a long-term context.

This report provides insights into what informed voting behaviour in the election and voters’ attitudes towards policy issues, the political leaders, and the functioning of Australian democracy generally. The main findings are as follows:

Public policy and the economy:

• A majority of voters (53 percent) cast their ballots based on policy issues, down from 66 percent in 2019.
• The most important issues in the election identified by voters included the cost of living (32 percent), environmental issues (17 percent), management of the economy (15 percent), and health (14 percent).

Leaders:

• Anthony Albanese was evaluated more favourably than any political party leader since Kevin Rudd in 2007, scoring 5.3 on a zero to 10 popularity scale.
• Scott Morrison became the least popular major party leader in the history of the AES, scoring 3.8 on a zero to 10 popularity scale, down from 5.1 in the 2019 election.

Socio-demographic influences on the vote:

• Men were more likely to vote for the Coalition than women (men: 38 percent; women: 32 percent). Women were more likely than men to vote for Labor and the Greens. This represents a longer-term reversal of the gender gap in voter behaviour, since the 1990s women have shifted to the left and men to the right in their party preferences.
• There are major generational differences in voter behaviour. The Coalition has very little support among Millennials and Generation Z. The Coalition’s share of the vote fell in almost every age group, but especially among the youngest cohorts of voters.

Attitudes towards democracy:

• After reaching record lows in 2019, there has been a slight improvement in political trust and satisfaction with democracy. While 70 percent of Australians are satisfied with how democracy is working, just 30 percent of Australians believe people in government can be trusted.
• A majority of Australians (54 percent) believe that the government is run for ‘a few big interests’, while just 12 percent believe the government is run for ‘all the people’.