Trust is critically important before an election – particularly one in the current context amidst corruption scandals, rising inflation, and the spectre of recession. Everybody understands the importance of trust, especially close to polling day, but it is not trust that will determine the result. The election will be won or lost on distrust. If we actively distrust our politicians, how can we vote for them to run our state?

The Victorian Election Webinar Report outlines a recent Roy Morgan Webinar, conducted in November 2022. The results and insights are based on analysis of surveys with over 60,000 Australians via the ongoing Risk Monitor from 2019 to 2021, as well as a deep dives surveys into trust in Victorian politics conducted in October and November 2022. This measured the levels of trust and, importantly, distrust in Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, and Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, as well as the major political parties. The results may surprise you:

Who is more trusted and who is more distrusted: Premier Daniel Andrews or Opposition Leader Matthew Guy?
Which political parties are trusted and which are distrusted?
Why do Victorians trust or distrust their political leaders and their parties?
What worries Victorians about the ALP or the LNP winning the upcoming state election?

Additional Information

The recent Roy Morgan SMS Polls asked Australians to name, without prompting, politicians they trust and distrust, in the context of the Victorian election, and to give detailed, open-ended reasons for their selections.

Roy Morgan’s ongoing Risk Monitor also measures trust and distrust, focusing on the brands Australians interact with and their feelings towards them. Each year around 20,000 Australians provide us with a detailed list of brands they trust or distrust and the reasons they feel that way. From a base of around 900 different brands mentioned each year (including Government or Government Services brands), we track around 200 brands across 26 industries that are mentioned with regularity. For brands or industries with less mentions, we also conduct deep-dive surveys to understand Australians' perceptions and drivers of trust and distrust at a deeper level.