When the ACM network's daily newspapers asked their local online and print audiences in June how they would vote on Voice referendum day, only five of the 14 mastheads recorded a "no" vote above 60 per cent among their readerships.
Two months later, and 11 of the mastheads have more than 60 per cent of local survey respondents voting "no" on October 14.
From the Newcastle Herald north of Sydney to The Canberra Times in the ACT, Ballarat's The Courier in Victoria and The Examiner in northern Tasmania, ACM's daily papers and their local news websites serve some of Australia's largest regional population centres as well as the national capital.
ACM's latest survey of Voice sentiment across the regions and Australia's five major capital cities shows only 34 per cent of voters intend to say "yes" to the federal government's Voice proposal, 61 per cent say they will vote "no" and 5 per cent are still undecided. The same survey in June showed 38 per cent for "yes", 55 per cent "no" and 7 per cent undecided.
More than 8600 people completed the most recent survey run by ACM's research unit Chi-Squared between August 22 and September 4, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese officially set the date and launched the "yes" campaign.
The survey reveals sentiment against a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous Voice to Parliament and executive government is growing in most ACM markets.
In the June survey only two of the 14 daily papers recorded a "yes" vote of less than 30 per cent among readers, compared to seven in the latest survey.
Opposition appears to have hardened in western NSW, where the "no" vote has hit 80 per cent (up from 72 per cent) among readers of Dubbo's 149-year-old Daily Liberal.
Dubbo's federal MP is the National Party's Mark Coulton, whose electorate of Parkes covers almost half of NSW and includes one of the largest Aboriginal constituencies of any seat.
When the Nationals announced last November they would oppose the Voice, Mr Coulton said his view was based on the input of local Indigenous leaders worried that it had the "potential to cause more problems than it solves, especially given the diversity and complexity of voices within Aboriginal communities".
Concerns remain strong elsewhere in western NSW, with survey respondents in Orange (served by the Central Western Daily), Wagga (The Daily Advertiser) and Bathurst (Western Advocate) showing support for the Voice under 30 per cent and opposition as high as 70 per cent. The 10 per cent of Wagga readers "undecided" in June fell to 2 per cent, with more moving to the "no" camp (70 per cent).
Shifting sentiment looks different in the Tamworth region covered by the Northern Daily Leader, where Voice support is up 7 percentage points (37 per cent) and the "no" vote is down from 66 to 60 per cent.
In Tasmania, the "no" vote has surged by 15 percentage points to 74 per cent in the north-west region served by The Advocate, where Burnie-based independent Senator Jacquie Lambie recently berated the Albanese government for doing a "rotten job" of selling the Voice". In Launceston, where ACM's The Examiner has been publishing for 180 years, the "no" vote has grown by 8 points (to 63 per cent) since June.
Hope for the Yes23 campaign is still evident in Labor heartlands Newcastle, Wollongong and Ballarat, with 40 per cent of Newcastle Herald readers, 37 per cent of Illawarra Mercury readers and 40 per cent of The Courier's readers voting for change. But the "no" side still has more than 50 per cent support in each city.
Elsewhere in Victoria, Voice support is steady among the Warrnambool audiences of The Standard (35 per cent) and the NSW-Victorian border communities served by The Border Mail (29 per cent) but slipping among Bendigo Advertiser readers (27 per cent). The "no" vote is more than 60 per cent in each region, with 6 per cent undecided in Bendigo.
In the ACT, where "yes" support remains strongest, 47 per cent of respondents who identified themselves as Canberra Times readers said they'd vote "yes" (down from 55 per cent in June) and 49 per cent were "no".
The proposal to establish an independent body to advise parliament and the executive government on matters affecting Indigenous people will only go ahead if a majority of voters approve nationally, as well as a majority of voters in at least four of the six states.
A state by state split of the latest survey based on ACM's daily readerships shows the ACT with the strongest "yes" vote (47 per cent), followed by NSW (35 per cent) and Victoria (34 per cent). The "no" vote was strongest in Tasmania (66 per cent).
