A special Victorian edition of SEC Newgate’s Mood of the Nation reveals crime and antisocial behaviour has rocketed up the list of Victorians’ top concerns, as the state prepares to head to the polls for the 28 November election.
Crime was mentioned unprompted by 32% of Victorians as a key issue facing Australia, significantly higher than the national average of 20%, in the survey of community attitudes conducted between 4 and 8 September 2026.
When prompted, 73% of Victorians nominated crime and community safety as a Victorian government priority, ahead of cost-of-living relief at 65% and improving healthcare services at 58%.
This represents a challenge for Victoria’s incumbent Labor government in the upcoming state election as 27% of Victorian voters nominated the Coalition as the party best placed to manage crime and community safety, compared with 16% for Labor, and 19% selecting One Nation.
The survey suggests Victorians have lost confidence in both the state’s direction and government performance since the last election in November 2022.
Just 26% of Victorians believe the state is heading in the right direction, down from 51% in November 2022. Victoria trails all other mainland states on this metric.
Positive ratings of the government’s performance have fallen from 48% at the time of the last election to just 19% today, while 60% now rate its performance as poor.
The change in Labor’s leadership in July does not appear to have stopped the decline. Rather, the latest survey results show that perception of government performance fell a further 3 points since the leadership change (from 22% to 19%).
Among the highest-rated actions that Victorians believe the next government should prioritise are reducing ambulance waiting times, giving police more resources to respond to crime, tougher responses to repeat youth offending, faster road repairs and stronger penalties for corruption involving public funds.
By contrast, attracting investment in AI, data centres and advanced manufacturing was the lowest-ranked priority tested.
Taken together, the findings suggest voters are placing greater weight on service delivery, government accountability and the performance of essential public services, than on major new policy initiatives.
Potholes and road maintenance now stands out as a distinctive area of concern in Victoria.
Priorities differ across demographic groups:
Against a backdrop of a Royal Commission into the Big Build, 42% of Victorians consider improving government integrity and accountability a priority issue. More voters believe the Coalition would be the best party to restore integrity (21% vs 15% who believe Labor would be).
The special Victorian edition of Mood of the Nation was based on the findings of an online survey conducted between 8 and 14 September 2026, of 1,659 Australians (aged 18 and above) including 756 Victorians.
Contact us if you’d like to see the full Mood of the Nation research report, have any questions about the findings or if we can help you navigate community or stakeholder sentiment or expectations.
Keith McGowan, Senior Director, SEC Newgate Research – [email protected]
Feyi Akindoyeni, Founding Partner, SEC Newgate Australia – [email protected]
Nick Maher, Partner, SEC Newgate Australia – [email protected]
Katherine Hornbuckle, Partner, SEC Newgate Australia – [email protected]
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