Peter Dutton was the least popular candidate for prime minister in at least four decades and lost the Coalition its long-held advantage as preferred economic managers, a study has found.

The Australian Election Study shows voters preferred Labor over the Coalition when it came to managing the economy and taxation, the first time the roles had been reversed since the researchers began collecting data in 1987.

Voters signalled a clear preference for Anthony Albanese as prime minister, with then opposition leader Dutton’s lack of popularity breaking several records in the study run by the Australian National University and Griffith University.

“Dutton was the least popular major party leader the AES has ever polled,” study co-author Ian McAllister said.

“According to voters, the leadership qualities he most lacked were ‘inspiration’, closely followed by ‘compassion’.”

Such was the depth of voter dislike for Dutton revealed by the study that he languished behind other Coalition leaders Scott Morrison and Andrew Peacock in bottom place among the 27 men and lone woman who have led their parties to federal elections since 1987.

Labor’s least popular was Bill Shorten, at fourth most-disliked. Kevin Rudd had the distinction of being both the most popular leader in nearly 40 years (in 2007) and the fifth least-popular (in 2013).

Leader popularity, 1987-2025

Source: Australian Election Study

On this study’s count, the Liberals fell to record low levels of popularity among voters in 2025, dropping to an average score of 4.2 on a zero to 10 scale.

Voters also gave Labor a four-percentage-point lead over the Coalition on economic management, and an eight-point lead on taxation.

Opposition frontbencher Andrew Bragg conceded Australians no longer thought about the Liberals as they did in the past, when the party had a double-digit lead over Labor on economic management.

“There’s no doubt that we have done damage to our brand over the past few years,” he said in Canberra on Wednesday.

The dire results come as the Coalition’s primary vote also failed to lift beyond record-low levels in the latest Newspoll data. It also has backbencher Andrew Hastie as the most popular potential opposition leader if Sussan Ley were to step aside.

Labor continues to lead the two-party preferred vote by 58-42 per cent.

The study’s results show voter volatility continues to rise, according to its authors, with 25 per cent of participants reporting they don’t feel close to any political party.

Co-author Sarah Cameron from Griffith University said there was no sign of any easing in the wide gender gap that has emerged in the past decade.

“The Coalition attracted the lowest share of votes from women on record, with 9 per cent fewer women than men voting for the Coalition,” Cameron said.

Conversely, Labor attracts more votes from women than men.

“The gender gap in voting for Labor, at 5 per cent, is about half the size of the coalition’s.”

Labor was the preferred party on nine out of 10 policy issue areas examined, including environmental, social and economic issues.

The exception was national security, where the Coalition had a narrow lead over Labor.

Millennials, aged in their 30s and 40s, are not shifting to the right as they age and are rather shifting to the left, the study found.

The age group’s support of the Coalition has fallen from 38 per cent in 2016 to 21 per cent in 2025.

There has also been a dramatic drop in confidence in Australia’s relationship with the United States, with just 55 per cent of voters saying they trust in the US to come to Australia’s defence, down from 73 per cent in 2022.

-with AAP