The erosion of hope and the federal election

Australians are increasingly pessimistic about the future and life satisfaction has dropped to its lowest level since COVID-19 lockdowns, according to The Australian National University’s (ANU) 2025 Election Monitoring Survey Series. 

While official economic indicators such as low unemployment and declining inflation suggest relative stability, findings from January and February this year show, over one-third of Australians report financial stress. 

According to report author Professor Nicholas Biddle from ANU, the erosion of hope will be an important factor in the outcome of the election and is leading to lack of trust in government institutions, particularly as it affects young people. 

“For the first time in our tracking data which goes back to the start of the pandemic, more Australians think that the lives of Australia’s children are going to be worse than the current generation,” Professor Biddle, Head of the ANU School of Politics and International Relations, said.  

The data revealed a number of predictors of pessimism in the population. 

One is the ongoing impact of rising prices and dissatisfaction with housing. Everyone can see the real struggle younger Australians are having in getting a foot into the property market, and this appears to be translating into pessimism about the future,” Professor Biddle said. 

“There’s also views about the environment that are feeding into negative perceptions. The 42.0 per cent of Australians that think Australia isn’t doing enough are particularly pessimistic about the lives of Australia’s children,” Professor Biddle said. 

The implications of the findings are that Australians who believe life was better 50 years ago and will worsen in the next 50 years exhibit stronger populist attitudes and less satisfaction with democracy. And, while younger Australians express greater optimism they remain less politically engaged. 

More detailed findings include: 

• Only 21.7 per cent of Australians believe their life has improved in the past year while 30 per cent believe it has worsened.
• 50.3 per cent of Australians believe life will be worse in 50 years, while only 16.3 per cent believe it will improve. 

Data was collected from 3,514 Australians to produce the findings. There will be more results released during the election campaign.