WA election: One Nation support plummets as Barnett heads for defeat, Newspoll says

The latest Newspoll shows Labor leading the Liberal-Nationals alliance by 54 per cent to 46 per cent in two-party-preferred terms.

WA Labor leader Mark McGowan (centre)

WA Labor leader Mark McGowan (centre) Source: AAP

Mark McGowan is firmly on track to replace Colin Barnett as West Australian premier after voter support for Pauline Hanson's One Nation in the state plummeted, the latest Newspoll shows.

The survey taken this week for The Australian shows Labor leading the Liberal-Nationals alliance by 54 percent to 46 percent in two-party-preferred terms.

It also showed One Nation's primary vote across WA dived from 13 percent to 8 percent in just six weeks.

That dip came as the party came under scrutiny for its policies, choice of candidates and a controversial preference-swap deal with the Liberals.

Assuming a uniform swing, Labor would win 34 of the 59 seats in the lower house in Saturday's election, ending Mr Barnett's eight-year reign as premier, The Australian reported.

Mr McGowan remains the state's preferred premier over Mr Barnett by a margin of 45 percent to 37 percent.



Labor needs a swing of 10 per cent to win the extra 10 seats needed to win government.

Mr Barnett, 66, has acknowledged the "it's time" factor is against him but says his government has much more to give.

"There's a lot more to be done; exciting times to be had - don't lose your nerve now," he said on election eve.

"With Mark McGowan as premier Perth will become dull."

Mr McGowan has maintained a cautious approach, saying getting the needed swings and winning the extra seats has never been done in WA before.

"For us to win is like climbing Mt Everest," he told reporters while campaigning with WA Labor heavyweight Kim Beazley on Friday.
Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will be in Perth on Saturday to lend support.

One Nation to hold the balance of power?

Meanwhile, Pauline Hanson said she has high hopes of getting five One Nation MPs into the WA parliament.

She has high hopes of winning the lower house seats of Kalgoorlie and Pilbara which is held by Nationals leader Brendon Grylls, as well three upper house seats.

It's the first electoral test for One Nation since its stunning success at last July's federal poll.

But the WA campaign has been dogged by internal criticism of the preference swap deal with the Liberals and claims of disunity and ageism.

Five candidates were dumped or quit but Senator Hanson is confident her team is now unified.

Polls open at 8am and close at 6pm.

Almost 1.6 million people enrolled to vote for more than 700 candidates from 16 parties.

More than 180,000 early votes and 167,500 postal vote applications had been received by Friday morning.


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Source: AAP



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