Many vote early in Hughes as 'big guns' from major parties drop in

Australian Electoral Commission figures show that at the end of voting on Monday this week, 25.3 per cent had either attended an early voting centre (13.8 per cent) or applied for a postal vote (11.5 per cent).

"Big guns" from the major parties have been dropping by to support candidates.

The latest was Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Senator Marise Payne, who joined Liberal candidate Jenny Ware at the Engadine prepoll booth on Tuesday.

Labor candidate Riley Campbell has been supported on the ground by Chris Bowen, the Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy and a former Treasurer, Senator Tony Sheldon, a leader in the Australian Trade Union movement for over 35 years, and NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns.

Former Western Australian Premier Geoff Gallop will be supporting Mr Campbell at polling booths on election day.

A YouGov MRI poll, which was published by The Australian last week and indicated Labor would be elected to government comfortably, found the Liberals would win back Hughes from renegade Craig Kelly, with Labor posing the biggest threat.

Liberal Jenny Ware would not comment on the poll but said, "the mood on the ground has been very good.".

"I am feeling positive and that's because people have stopped and told me that they are grateful for our strong economy and all the support they received during the pandemic.

"I'm not taking anything for granted but I do think the people of Hughes want a safe and stable economy and they know that that's what the Morrison Government has delivered.

"I have had plenty of business owners tell me that their shops wouldn't still be open if it were not for the financial support provided by our government."

Labor's Riley Campbell was also optimistic, saying the response from voters was completely different to that at the 2019 election.

"I was a booth worker in Hughes at the last election and it was hostile," he said.

"This time, people are a lot more engaged and want to have a chat.

"I have had a lot of people say they are going to vote Labor for the first time, or again after a long time."

Independent Linda Seymour said the YouGov poll was very different to previous polls.

"The methodology is different to traditional polling in that it extrapolates the result from a small sample and applies known information about the demographic more broadly based on the national survey," she said.

"In Hughes, however, we are very unique. We have the Leader of the UAP, and five strong candidates, all of us are new faces to the electorate, including two independents with very different styles and a mystery Pauline Hanson One National candidate who shares my name.

"Nothing is straight forward in Hughes.

"On the ground my team and I have reason to feel optimistic, but I think every other candidate would say the same. We all clearly have support from voters."

Independent Georgia Steele said, "This is an election unlike any other in recent memory for the people of Hughes.

"We find ourselves in the unique situation where our sitting MP has defected from the party he was elected with, leaving a vacuum of leadership and trust.

"The YouGov poll combines information from a large survey with localised data to predict results for all 151 electorates in Australia - it is not based on information collected only in Hughes.

"We actually have no idea how many people in Hughes were surveyed.

"The YouGov surveys also did not name the candidates in individual electorates such as Hughes, as it was a survey across all Australian electorates.

"This likely contributed to an underestimation of support for individual Independent candidates running without the backing of a party."

"Polling released by The Australian also paints a very different picture of the electorate - this polling reported a Liberal Party primary vote which is significantly lower than what was reported by YouGov.

"While polling can be a helpful indicator of what is important to people as they consider who to vote for, we saw at the last election that polls can wildly miss the mark.

"We know that a significant number of people make up their minds on election day, and that the major parties continue to announce policies and views right up until this point.

"Given this, the only poll that we can rely on is the one which comes out of the voting booth - and I will continue working hard every day between now and May 21 to earn the trust, and hopefully the vote, of the people of Hughes."