More than half of Tasmanians support keeping Australia Day on January 26, but a clear majority of younger voters want the date changed, new polling suggests.
A recent EMRS survey of 752 Tasmanians found 55% backed the current date, while 35% opposed it and 10% were undecided.
Support was strongest in regional areas, with 73% of Braddon residents and 64% of Bass residents backing January 26.
The Hobart-based seat of Clark was the only electorate where opposition outweighed support, with 50% against the current date compared with 41% in favour.
The sharpest divide was generational, with attitudes appearing to shift significantly by age group.
Among 18 to 34-year-olds, 55% opposed the current date, while just 38% supported it.
That trend reversed among older Tasmanians, with 57% of those aged 55 and over backing January 26.
People aged 35 to 54 sat closer to the overall result, with 53% in favour and 37% opposed.
Lyons recorded 59% support, while Franklin was more divided at 47% in favour and 38% opposed.
Franklin also had the highest share of undecided voters at 15%.
The findings mirror EMRS polling from January 2025, which recorded 56% support statewide and similar demographic patterns.
The latest data was revealed on the new Poll Position podcast with Tasmanian political analysts Alex Johnston and Brad Stansfield.
Stansfield, who is also the director of EMRS, said the results were “completely predictable”.
“The north and the north-west and the rural areas are much more supportive of the date than the more progressive areas in the south,” he said.
“What we do see here in terms of Franklin, and we did see this as well in the [recent] gun buyback survey … is that Franklin is increasingly becoming a more progressive seat, more urbanised seat.”
Co-host Alex Johnston said a lack of consensus on an alternative date means the debate feels like “groundhog day”.
“It really feels like the debate has been unchanged for about the last 10 years,” Johnston said.
“It’s not so much a national holiday anymore – it’s a national debate about the holiday.”
“It would be lovely if we could get to this stage of the year and not just have the Groundhog Day argument every year. We’ve had it. Can we find something that we all feel more comfortable about?”
The online survey was conducted in January 2026, with a margin of error of 3.57%.
