SA state election polls could lead to one or no seats for Liberal Party, analyst says
Ashton Hurn took the helm of the Liberals in December in their fight against Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas. (ABC News: Che Chorley/Carl Saville)
In short:
Two opinion polls put the Liberals below One Nation in support.
Both the SA premier and opposition leader say they are not focused on the polls.
What's next?
Labor has ruled out a preference deal with One Nation but the Liberal Party has not.
The Liberal Party will begin South Australia's election campaign with record low support, according to two opinion polls released today.
A Newspoll published in The Australian found just 14 per cent of voters surveyed intended to vote Liberal at next month's state election.
That puts the Liberals well behind One Nation on 24 per cent and Labor on 44 per cent.
Political analyst Kevin Bonham said if the result played out on election day, the Liberal Party would struggle to win a single seat.
"If the Newspoll were to be correct, they could conceivably win no seats at all, or they'd probably win about one seat,"Dr Bonham said.
"Fourteen per cent of the vote does not get you many seats in a single-seat system."
Kevin Bonham says the Liberals could win one or no seats. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)
Meanwhile, a YouGov poll published in The Advertiser also puts the Liberals in third place, with 20 per cent primary support, behind One Nation on 22 per cent and Labor on 37 per cent.
The writs will be issued for the state election on Saturday, marking the formal start of the campaign.
Leaders look beyond polls
Premier Peter Malinauskas said he was not thinking about what the parliament would look like after the election and was instead focused on policy.
"In politics, not too different from business or sport, complacency is death, so we're very much focused on just doing our best job and laying out the agenda that we have for our state," he said.
Opposition Leader Ashton Hurn conceded that not many people believed her party could win the next election but she said she remained focused on what her party could do for the state.
"I read the polls and I see the commentary that the election is a foregone conclusion and that the premier and Labor have it in the bag," she said.
"But this election is important and the polls are still open — as far as I last checked until 6pm on March 21 — and so my job for my team and I is to not go down in a spiral of becoming commentators on what's going on in the polls and what people think about the Liberals."
Different preferences for deals
One Nation's lead candidate in the upper house is former Liberal senator Cory Bernardi.
The party plans to run candidates in all 47 lower house seats.
The premier ruled out a preference deal that would boost One Nation's chances in the House of Assembly.
"Which begs the real question here and that is, is the Liberal Party going to try and do a preference deal with One Nation?" Mr Malinauskas asked.
Ms Hurn did not rule out a deal.
"I think it would be silly to rule anything in or out and that goes with dealing with any parties," she said.