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Revealed: What NSW voters really think of their schools and transport

Revealed: What NSW voters really think of their schools and transport

Key worker strikes, hospital scandals and delays to major transport projects are challenging Premier Chris Minns's commitment to rebuild trust in the public service as polling shows fewer than half of voters in NSW have a positive opinion of state-run health, education and transport.
More than two years into Labor's first term of government in NSW, Minns maintains a commanding lead over Opposition Leader Mark Speakman as preferred premier, leading 40 to 15 per cent, and the NSW Labor Party's primary vote has quickly bounced back from a low of 29 per cent at the start of 2025 to 33 per cent.
But figures from the latest Resolve Political Monitor, conducted for The Sydney Morning Herald by Resolve Strategic, suggest Labor is struggling to convince voters it has improved key public services.
Amid widespread industrial strife in the NSW health system including doctor strikes, a staffing crisis in mental health and a long-running pay dispute with nurses, more voters in NSW have a negative opinion of the public health system than positive.
The poll of 1123 people taken in March and April shows 42 per cent rated public hospitals as poor or very poor, compared to only 38 per cent who had a positive view.
In troubling findings for the government, only 6 per cent of those polled had a 'very good' opinion of public hospitals.
But the dim view of public services was repeated across the board, with less than half of those polled expressing a positive opinion of public schools (42 per cent), public transport (43 per cent) and road infrastructure (37 per cent).
Resolve director Jim Reed said it was surprising to see voters held such a low opinion of key public services, particularly in the context of a federal election campaign in which health funding in particular has been prominent.
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