Roy Morgan Update September 22, 2026: Federal Vote, Consumer Confidence and NRL Supporters

In this week's Market Research Update, we present the latest data on Federal Vote, Consumer Confidence and NRL Supporters.

Welcome to the Roy Morgan Weekly update. Before we begin

In a week that saw consumer confidence down, inflation up, and fewer people believing the country is going in the right direction, let’s look first at football or more precisely rugby.

The annual Roy Morgan NRL Supporter survey shows the Brisbane Broncos, the NRL’s reigning premiers on top for a 3^rd straight year with 1,405,000 supporters. This makes them the most supported football club in Australia across codes with 270,000 more supporters than the Sydney Swans.

The Melbourne Storm, defeated by the Broncos in last year’s grand final, are the second most supported NRL club with 1,081,000 supporters.

Sydney Roosters and Parramatta Eels are the most widely supported New South Wales clubs with more than 400,000 supporters each.

Now to our Roy Morgan weekly indicators. Consumer Confidence, ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence decreased 1.9 points to 72, essentially reversing last week’s improvement. The driver of the small decrease was Australians having less confidence about the Australian economy's performance going forward.

Unsurprisingly, Inflation Expectations increased as petrol prices  surged to $2.27 a litre, the highest since early April.

ANZ-Roy Morgan Inflation Expectations were up 0.2% to 6.1% - this means Australians expect annual inflation of 6.1% in each of the next two years.

And in a week where we saw both the Labor Government and One Nation detail their immigration plans, there was little movement in voting intention. One Nation took the lead, with a small increase of half a percentage point to 25.5%, now just ahead of Labor on 25.0%. L-NP support was unchanged on 21.5% – Liberal 19.5% National 2%. The Greens were down 0.5% to 15.5% and Independents and Other Parties were unchanged on 12.5%.

However, on a two-party preferred basis the ALP continues to hold the lead. If a Federal Election were held now the ALP would win a majority against either One Nation (54-46) or the L-NP Coalition (53-47).

On the important question of whether Australians believe the country is going in the right or wrong direction, An increasing majority, 65%, say the country is ‘going in the wrong direction’ (up 1%). Only 21% (down 2%) say the country is ‘going in the right direction’.

Yesterday Roy Morgan released our latest review of trust and distrust in the Charities sector. The latest Roy Morgan Risk Monitor data shows that Charities remain one of the most trusted sectors, but the trust buffer is narrowing.

Over the past six years, trust in Charities (the green) has fluctuated, reaching an all-time low. And while distrust (red) has improved, Net Trust, calculated by subtracting distrust from trust, is also at an historic low – that’s the line. Importantly, both trust and distrust mentions have declined.

So this is not yet a dramatic wave of hostility. But it is an early warning of the erosion of social licence: fewer people are actively saying why charities deserve confidence. For leaders, the sector can no longer treat trust as a permanent asset.