Undecided voters hold key to Australian election

SYDNEY－Australia's political leaders raced to get their message out to undecided voters in marginal seats on Thursday, two days before a general election, with economic problems dominating the last stretch of a tough campaign.

The election has become too close to call, polls issued on Wednesday showed, as the ruling conservative coalition narrowed the gap with the main opposition Labor Party.

Center-left Labor has put spiking inflation and slow growth in wages at the forefront of its campaign, while the Liberal-National Coalition led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged voters to focus on unemployment, which is at its lowest since 1974.

"People being in jobs is the most important thing that the economy needs," Morrison said during a campaign stop in Tasmania, just ahead of the release of April's unemployment data that showed the jobless rate dipped to 3.9 percent.

"I'm for higher wages by ensuring that we get unemployment down."

In a survey released by Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday, about 67 percent of voters supported a higher base pay despite Morrison's warning that it could strain small businesses and the economy.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said he would support a proposal to raise the minimum wage by just over 5 percent.

Inflation has outstripped wage growth putting pressure on family budgets, with Morrison blaming the conflict in Ukraine and COVID-19 measures in China for the surge in living costs.

Ahead of Saturday's vote, Albanese will make a whirlwind tour through five states as Labor tries to flip 20 marginal seats held by the coalition.

Two polls released on Wednesday suggested the election may go down to the wire with the ruling coalition narrowing the lead with Labor, and coming within striking distance of retaining power.

"We can take nothing for granted. It could come down to a handful of votes in a handful of seats," Albanese said in a message to Labor supporters.

According to a survey published by Australian National University on Wednesday, women are three times more likely than men to be undecided on their choice for the election.

The poll of 3,500 Australians found that 8.4 percent of female voters are undecided compared with 2.8 percent of men.

Among men, 36.5 percent said they would vote for the opposition Labor Party and 34.5 percent for the governing coalition.

By comparison, 33.4 percent of female respondents said they would vote for the center-left Labor and 29.2 percent for the conservative coalition.

Women were significantly more likely to support the left-wing Greens, 19.8 percent compared with 12.2 percent of males.

Michelle Ryan, director of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at ANU, said the findings suggest women's votes remain "up for grabs".

Agencies - Xinhua