Poll briefing · Ace Strategies

Western Australia, August 2026

This is the DemosAU WA Poll released three days before the Secret Harbour by-election. Labor is steady on 33%, the Liberals have slipped to a tie with One Nation on 21%, and Labor leads 54–46 after preferences.

State: Western Australia
Fieldwork: 6–25 August 2026
Sample: n=990 · eff. 658 · ±3.8%
Election: 10 March 2029

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Labor primary

33%

Unchanged since June. 8.4 below the 2025 result.

One Nation

21%

Up 3, the largest move in the poll. It polled 4% in 2025.

Liberal

21%

Down 2. Level with One Nation for second.

One Nation's gain came from the Liberals

First preference across the March 2025 election and the three DemosAU polls of 2026.

Election, Mar 2025

February poll

June poll

August poll, 6–25 Aug

Labor Liberal One Nation Nationals WA Greens Others

The June release did not report the Nationals WA as a separate line. The 3% shown for that wave is the figure the comparison table in section 04 carries.

One Nation has gone from 4% at the election to 21%, and the Liberals from 28% to 21%. Labor's two-party lead recovered a point to 54–46 as the Liberal vote fell; on 2025 flows, One Nation preferences return only 68.5% to the Liberals.

Trade-qualified, outer suburban, 35 to 54

One Nation primary vote by cohort, August poll. The statewide figure is 21%.

24% TAFE education: The Liberals took 17% in the same cohort.
23% Outer metro: The Liberals took 16%. Secret Harbour sits in this belt.
23% Aged 35–54, and men: Both cohorts sit at 23%. Women sit at 18%.
13% University education: This is its weakest cohort. Labor took 40% here.

46–32 Cook leads Zempilas as preferred premier, out from 44–33 in June.

Outside the metropolitan area the picture differs: in regional and rural WA, Labor is on 24%, One Nation and the Liberals on 22% each and the Nationals on 11%. These are small subsamples and the cohort figures are indicative.

A premier rated above his government

Measures of the government's standing, August poll.

+7 Roger Cook, net rating: He recorded 34% positive and 27% negative, the only leader tested in positive territory. Zempilas recorded −3.
45% State headed in the wrong direction: 34% said the right direction. Wrong direction is up 2 since June.
66% Bad job on housing and on cost of living: Both measures worsened since June. Cost of living is the top issue for 36% and housing for 28%.
0 Net rating on education, the government's best issue: 29% said a good job and 29% a bad one. Education and job creation moved toward the government.

The government scores net negative on every one of the eight issues tested except education, where it breaks even. Labor's 33% primary and 54–46 lead rest on Cook's personal standing and on a divided opposition, not on issue performance.

August against June and the last election

Percentage points, first preferences. Movements within the ±3.8% margin should be read as direction, not magnitude.

Western Australian first preferences by party at the March 2025 election and in the June and August 2026 DemosAU polls, with the movement since June, in percentage points.
Party	Mar 2025	June	August	vs June
Labor	41.4	33	33	0
Liberal	28.0	23	21	−2
One Nation	4.0	18	21	+3
Nationals WA	5.2	3	4	+1
Greens	11.1	12	12	0
Others	10.3	11	9	−2
Two-party, Labor	57.1	53	54	+1

Method

DemosAU WA Poll, self-commissioned, released 27 August 2026. Fieldwork 6–25 August 2026, internet panels, West Australians 18+, n=990, effective n=658, effective margin of error ±3.8%. Two-party preferred uses 2025 state election flows: Nationals 77–23 to the Liberals, Greens 76.5–23.5 to Labor, One Nation 68.5–31.5 to the Liberals and Others 54–46 to the Liberals. Polling and methodology are the work of DemosAU, a member of the Australian Polling Council. Ace Strategies had no role in the poll; analysis and presentation are Ace Strategies' alone. Subgroup samples carry wider margins than the ±3.8% topline.

Use

Polling is by DemosAU, which also commissioned this wave. Material from this briefing may be reproduced in client and internal documents provided it credits acestrategies.au, the pollster and the sponsor. Not for resale.

Contact

Ace Strategies · info@acestrategies.au · acestrategies.au

Filing

File: ACE-IU-2026-016
Series: IU-03 · Poll briefings
State: WA · Public release
Issued: September 2026

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