What Voters Say: Qualitative Analysis of Voter Interviews

According to the November 11, 2026 Crikey report, seven former Labor and Coalition voters described turning toward One Nation because they felt major parties no longer represented their economic concerns, values, or lived experience.

• According to Crikey, One Nation's primary vote reached 28% in a Newspoll conducted between October 26 and 29, 2026, compared with 6.4% at the 2025 federal election.
• According to Crikey's cited Utting Research survey of 1, 014 One Nation voters, 70% had voted for another party at the 2025 election or had not voted.
• According to Crikey, the seven interviewees repeatedly raised representation, political integrity, small-business costs, migration, government accountability, and cultural values.
• According to Crikey, federal government trust among Australian adults fell from 56% in November 2020 to 33% in 2024, then recovered to 37% in July 2025.
• According to Crikey, the strongest qualitative pattern was not simply ideological conversion, but a belief among several interviewees that established parties had changed or abandoned them.

Qualitative analysis of the seven voter interviews reveals a layered explanation for support for One Nation rather than a single issue cause. Crikey's reporting connected voter accounts to four recurring themes: perceived political disconnection, economic and regulatory pressure, declining trust, and attraction to a politician viewed as consistent or authentic.

Crikey's interview with Keith Marriott illustrates the distinction between personal ideological change and perceived party change. Marriott said, "I didn't change. Labor did", while describing disappointment that Labor had not delivered the egalitarian Australia he expected.

Crikey's interviews also identified representation as a central theme. Peter, a former Nationals branch member, said, "You can't represent the people unless you've been part of the people", while Chris, a former Labor voter, said that politicians increasingly lacked experience outside politics.

Crikey reported that the interviewees' concerns were not internally uniform. Some participants supported One Nation enthusiastically, some preferred another minor party or an independent, and several questioned whether One Nation could govern. A qualitative research design should therefore code both stated support and reservations instead of treating every positive comment as a confirmed voting intention.

For political researchers, the practical lesson is that interview coding should preserve context. A code such as "anti-establishment" is less useful than linked subcodes such as perceived insider politics, lack of local representation, policy frustration, distrust of media, and admiration for personal consistency.

Political researchers and UX teams should use qualitative analysis to explain why a voter expresses support, hesitation, or tactical intent, rather than reducing every answer to a single sentiment label.

The Crikey interviews show why cross-segment analysis matters. A former Labor voter, a former Liberal voter, a small-business owner, and a long-term conservative voter may all use language about political failure, but their underlying needs can differ. Researchers should compare themes by prior party, age, occupation, geography, voting intention, and level of certainty.

• Code causal language separately from issue language: phrases about being abandoned or misrepresented describe perceived causes, while comments about migration, energy, or regulation describe policy concerns.
• Track positive and negative evidence within the same interview: Crikey reported that some participants admired Pauline Hanson's consistency while also describing some of her statements as repugnant or outrageous.
• Separate emotional support from tactical voting: Keith told Crikey that his Senate choice was a tactical decision and that a One Nation vote in his electorate could be wasted.
• Preserve minority and dissenting views: Crikey reported that several interviewees were unsure whether One Nation could govern, even when they supported the party or its broader message.
• Use survey figures as context, not proof of interview themes: the 70% Utting Research figure describes surveyed One Nation voters, while Crikey's seven interviews provide depth rather than statistical representation.

The November 11, 2026 Crikey report demonstrates why voter research needs both breadth and depth: polling can show a political shift, while interviews can reveal how distrust, representation, economic pressure, identity, and tactical reasoning interact.

AI-enabled qualitative research helps teams process more transcripts, compare voter segments, preserve supporting excerpts, and identify patterns without treating every interview as interchangeable.

Researchers should use AI as a structured analysis aid, not as a substitute for sampling judgment, source verification, or human interpretation. Start organizing your interview and open-ended survey data with Try Evidano for free.