Teal wave on track to claim big scalps
INDEPENDENT challengers are on track to knock off senior Liberals Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Tim Wilson, according to new polling that shows the federal government is more successfully repelling the teal wave in NSW.
The YouGov research, commissioned by News Corp, reveals the Treasurer’s primary vote has slumped to 38 per cent in the race against Climate 200-backed candidate Dr Monique Ryan.
Her primary is at 28 per cent, which YouGov concludes would give her an electionwinning lead in Kooyong after preferences of 53 per cent to 47 per cent.
Mr Wilson has also fallen behind in his Victorian seat of Goldstein, with a primary vote of 40 per cent not enough to remain in front of teal challenger and former ABC journalist Zoe Daniel, who has a 52-48 per cent lead on a two-party preferred basis.
But the Morrison government is holding firm in the NSW seats of North Sydney, Wentworth and Mackellar – three key targets of the independent movement fronted by female candidates campaigning on climate change, a federal integrity watchdog and gender equality.
The numbers are based on a YouGov survey of 18,923 voters nationwide between April 14 and May 7.
This put North Sydney challenger Kylea Tink’s primary vote at just 18 per cent, giving incumbent Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman a 53-47 per cent lead.
In Wentworth, YouGov has independent Allegra Spender on 26 per cent, but Liberal Dave Sharma’s primary vote of 48 per cent means he would safely hold on.
Mackellar MP Jason Falinski is ahead 53-47 per cent after preferences against independent Sophie Scamps, who is on a primary vote of 23 per cent.