Federal Budget 2026: Doing it tough. Losing faith.

Federal Budget 2026: Aussies doing it tough.

Australians under the greatest financial pressure responded to this year’s Federal Budget very differently from the rest of the country.

Lower income households and those who say they do not have enough money to meet expenses were among the least engaged audiences overall. Many paid little attention to the Budget, struggled to form clear views about its impact, and were significantly more negative about whether it would improve conditions across areas like inflation and cost of living pressures.

They were also far more critical of the Government’s broken promises. Among Australians who do not have enough money to meet expenses, only 18% agreed the Government was right to break some election promises in response to changing economic conditions. 46% disagreed.

For Australians under financial pressure, the Budget often appears to be competing with more immediate concerns. Rising rents, grocery bills, insurance costs and energy prices are shaping daily decision making in a much more direct way than political debate in Canberra.

That changes how many people engage with Budgets altogether. When households are focused on getting through the next week or month, long term economic narratives and structural reform arguments can start to feel distant and abstract.

This helps explain why many financially strained Australians were not just more negative about the Budget, but less engaged with it entirely.

This piece forms part of Fifth Quadrant’s broader Federal Budget 2026 research series exploring how different groups of Australians responded to this year’s Budget. Read our national overview, Federal Budget 2026: The Disengagement Reality, along with our companion analysis covering Gen Z, Baby Boomers and Investment Property Owners. Together, the research reveals a country experiencing the same Budget through very different financial, generational and emotional lenses.

At Fifth Quadrant, we help organisations move beyond headlines and assumptions to understand what Australians are really thinking, feeling and doing. If you’re looking for deeper insight into consumer sentiment, policy impact or emerging market trends, get in touch with our team to learn how our research can support better decision-making.

Source. Fifth Quadrant Consumer Sentiment Tracker: Nationally representative online survey of n=1,057 Australians aged 18 to 75, fielded post-Budget. Weighted to age × state by gender.