Guardian Essential poll: more than half of Australians open to voting for One Nation despite Hanson’s Muslim comments

A quarter of all respondents say they would ‘definitely’ back the rightwing populist party at the next election while a third say they’re ‘open’ to it

• Pauline Hanson’s populism is a front. But there are lessons for progressives in One Nation’s surging popularity | Peter Lewis

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Nearly 60% of Australians say they’d be open to voting for One Nation at the next federal election, with nearly half of those currently backing Labor saying they’d consider backing Pauline Hanson, ringing alarm bells for both the government and Coalition about the march of the rightwing populist party.

Meanwhile Angus Taylor’s appointment as Liberal leader has done little to boost the opposition’s electoral fortunes so far, with its primary vote virtually unchanged and voters split about whether his spill of Sussan Ley would make them more or less likely to vote for the Coalition.