Labor’s key budget measures on housing and tax have failed to win over Australians, with only a third or fewer voters backing negative gearing and CGT changes – and many holding significant doubts the changes will make things easier for first home buyers, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.Demonstrating the challenge Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers are facing in selling and explaining the budget, just 25% of the more than 1,000 Australians polled said they backed the budget, while 56% believed the Labor government had fallen short of expectations in the year since the May 2025 election. At the same time, the prime minister’s net approval slumped seven points in a month while One Nation’s primary vote sat just one point behind Labor’s.There was some good news for the government among the data: two-thirds backed the general principle of taxing assets and wealth more equally to salaries and wages – an overarching theme of Chalmers’ latest budget.Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email“There’s high levels of uncertainty about the government’s budget policies and their impact,” said Peter Lewis, executive director of Essential Media.“The ongoing cost of living pressures, in a time of declining economic conditions, is creating a low level of confidence in the future, and this is playing out in the response to the budget.”The poll, conducted last week after the budget a fortnight ago, found Labor had a 29% primary vote, with One Nation on 28% and ahead of the Coalition on 23%. Both Labor and the Coalition dropped one point from April’s poll, where they recorded 30% and 24% respectively, while One Nation was up three points from its previous 25%.The poll has a margin of error of about 3%.Essential poll table on primary voteJust 37% approved of Albanese’s performance as prime minister, down three points from April, while 54% disapproved, up four points. Albanese’s net approval stood at -17, compared to -10 in April.While a so-called “budget bounce” in polling after the annual budget is rare, numerous key measures had not caught the public’s attention, according to the Essential poll. But the results also showed many had not made up their minds on key changes, making the government’s job of selling and explaining their proposals yet more critical.Only 25% of Australians approved of the budget as a whole, with 39% disapproving; another 24% said they were ambivalent, while 12% didn’t know.Conversely, opposition leader Angus Taylor’s hardline policies on immigration, announced in the wake of One Nation’s surge, gained majority support. Capping immigration to the number of new house builds was backed by 58% with only 14% opposing; limiting welfare to citizens only had 57% support and 19% opposition.The Coalition has targeted its budget attacks on Labor’s “broken promise” not to touch negative gearing or CGT. Albanese and his ministers have said their policies changed after they decided first home buyers needed more support.Australians are split on the topic. About 46% of voters said governments should stick to their election commitments no matter what, while 41% said it’s reasonable for governments to change position if circumstances change.Essential poll table on views over government changes to election commitmentsThe most popular measure in the budget was the $250 working Australians tax offset, with 47% in favour and only 14% opposed. Winding back negative gearing and CGT for property was backed by only 33% of people, with 27% opposed, 26% neither supporting nor opposing, and 14% unsure; while only 32% backed changing CGT for shares and investments, with 29% opposed, 26% neither support nor oppose, and 14% unsure.Introducing new taxes on trusts was the least popular, with only 26% in support and 38% opposed.The government has billed the budget as being about intergenerational fairness and helping fix a “broken” housing market for young people. The property tax changes have been welcomed by peak housing and social groups, but voters so far appear to be unconvinced.A major pushback against the CGT changes has raised concern about the effects on businesses, and cutting wealth creation opportunities for young people who have invested in property, shares or ETFs.The Essential poll found, in a forced choice question, 30% of people believed Labor’s changes would make the housing market more unfair because young people would lose access to tax concessions, while 22% believed the changes would make no difference. Only 28% thought the changes would make the system fairer because young people wouldn’t be competing with as many investors.Essential poll table on support for changes introduced for negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount in the budgetConversely, moves to more equally tax income from labour and income from assets had strong support. Some 33% of voters said income from investments and income from wages should be taxed at the same rate, while another 32% wanted investment income taxed higher than wages. Only 13% thought wages and salaries should be taxed more than investments.Essential poll table on views around taxing money earned from wages and salaries and money earned from investments and assetsChalmers has said the budget aimed to “better align the tax treatment of people who work for a living with people who earn their living in other legitimate ways”, claiming the current tax system was “out of whack”.