Opposition leader Peter Dutton has also hit the radio this morning, calling in to Brisbane radio 4BC (Brisbane’s version of 2GB) to say that the internal polls for the Coalition were very positive and he thinks that the ‘quiet Australians’ (Scott Morrison’s favourite cohort) would deliver him the Lodge.

There’s a lot of quiet Australians … particularly people in suburbs, who believe that the government hasn’t delivered for them.

I think there are a few surprises coming and there’s no doubt in my mind that we can win this election.”

Morrison used to refer to the “quiet Australians” frequently – which was an expansion of the Howard’s “battlers” and Menzie’s “Forgotten Australians”. Morrison meant white, older, suburban voters of lower to middle class. It is the cohort that Dutton has staked his entire political career on.

Essentially Dutton is asking people to believe that the ‘quiet Australians’ are so quiet they are never polled. And while yes, in 2019 the expectations were that Bill Shorten would win the election, and the two-party preferred polls did have Labor in the lead, the polls were right on the primary vote for each of the major parties, which suggested Labor would fall short. And pollsters have made a lot of adjustments since then and were right about 2022.