General News
27 October, 2026
One Nation on the rise
INTERNET searches for One Nation in Victoria ahead of the state election have spiked when compared to previous years, indicating renewed interest in the political party.
When looking at five years of Google search data in Victoria, spikes in searches for the Labor Party, Liberal Party and One Nation can be observed relative to the dates of federal and state elections.
However, in the past 12 months specifically, the volume of people in Victoria searching for One Nation has skyrocketed.
Associate professor of politics Dr Zareh Ghazarian said this recent trend in searches reflected the overall trajectory of One Nation in Victoria.
“One Nation has traditionally found it difficult to attract support in Victoria,” he said.
“At state and federal elections, it’s not been the strongest state in terms of the party support.
“I think what we’re now seeing, based on this data, is there’s a broader acceptance of the party and perhaps greater enthusiasm to support the party than in previous elections.
“This indicates to us that people are not just somewhat passive in their observations about One Nation, but they are actually actively seeking out information about One Nation, suggesting that they are trying to inform their vote before the state election.”
Dr Ghazarian suggested a variety of factors which could be influencing the party’s recent rise.
“We’ve seen a Labor government that’s really experiencing a fall in support, according to the opinion polls, but at the same time, we have Victorians not immediately going to the opposition,” he said.
“In fact, many people have decided to support One Nation.
“That’s partly as a result of where the major parties stand, that people for whatever reason can’t bring themselves to support either of the major parties, and they’ve seen One Nation as the alternative that they would be much more happy supporting.”
Dr Ghazarian said both the Labor Party and the Coalition could appear to have their faults, resulting in voters naturally deviating to another option.
“I do think that on the Labor side, it’s very difficult for a government to try and win a fourth consecutive term,” he said.
“There’s the idea that they’ve already changed two leaders in this electoral cycle, which suggests the party itself is also grappling with how to best present itself in terms of personnel for the community to support it.
“I think when it comes to the opposition, the Coalition – the Coalition we know for many years has been deeply divided with spill over into the public sphere, debates about personnel and debates about policy setting – all of that has also been a feature of the Victorian political debate.
“The context here is we have One Nation, which has been around almost 30 years in Australian politics, and voters in Victoria are now seemingly more attracted to it than ever before.”
*This content is part of a paid partnership with Google to promote Google Trends.
