One Nation’s Pauline Hanson as popular as ever as Australians find Barnaby Joyce increasingly likeable

Two of One Nation’s most high-profile members are increasingly popular with the Australian public, a new opinion poll shows. Leader Pauline Hanson has ended this year with a likeability rating of +3 on Resolve’s Political Monitor, which polls annually the likeability of all federal politicians. It’s a staggering jump from her 2024 rating of -13, which itself was an improvement from her -25 rating in 2023. Newly minted One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has also enjoyed a similar trajectory, while just falling short of entering positive digits. This year, Mr Joyce defected from the Nationals over a hard-line position on net zero and a falling out with party leadership. In 2025, he logged a -4 rating, which was an 18-point improvement from last year, where he rated -22. However, despite his steady ascent in 2025, Mr Joyce is one of only two federal politicians whose likeability ratings are in the negatives, the other being independent senator Lidia Thorpe, who rated -12. Asked about the increase in support for Senator Hanson and himself, Mr Joyce told Sky News he was “humbled” at the response. “I think people want a more pure form of politics. They want people to sort of cut through the rhetoric, and they want to hear sort of a concise message,” he said. One Nation’s positions on energy and net zero, the Bondi attacks, and cost of living were why more Australians were supporting the right-wing party, he said. “And I’ll be frank, everywhere I go, I’m just really humbled by people walking up, shaking my hand,” Mr Joyce said. “I walked into a couple, you know, hotels for dinner, and they start clapping. “There’s a real sentiment out there that (Australians) … don’t want excuses. They’re happy to say at certain times, ‘We disagree with you fervently’, but they respect the fact that you’re being straight with them.” Mr Joyce’s exit from the Nationals made headlines earlier this year before his much-touted defection to One Nation was confirmed in November. At the time, the New England MP stated a falling out with leader David Littleproud led to his dissatisfaction with the party. On Wednesday, Mr Littleproud was asked about One Nation’s surprise boost in polls, shrugging it off as “a bit of fun”. “It’s about 50-plus people and it’s not a big sample size. And, if I’m popular, God, anyone could be,” Mr Littleproud told Channel 9. “Although I do note that Barnaby and a couple others are in the negative territory. “Look, they’ll come and go. Polls come and go, but I think this one is not a great sample size to hang your hat on. “Not even I’m going to hang my hat on that one.” The same poll found Mr Littleproud to be the most popular federal political leader last year.