Underwhelmed voters fear budget will lift rates

Almost 40 per cent of voters think last week’s big-spending federal budget increases the chances of another interest rate rise, and just one-quarter believe they will be better off, the latest The Australian Financial Review/Freshwater Strategy poll finds.

The poll also shows that while the budget had no immediate impact on Labor’s political fortunes – both parties are still tied at 50-50 on the two-party-preferred vote – the government clawed back some ground in the key issues of economic management, cost of living, law and order, and immigration.