Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York is like One Nation’s surge here. Both offer false hope

Politics

Federal

Political leadership

Opinion

Waleed Aly Columnist, author and academic November 14, 2025 — 5.00am

Consider two contrasting sensations of the past week: Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the mayoral election in New York City, and the admittedly lower-key ascent of One Nation and similarly conservative politicians, culminating in a new poll placing Pauline Hanson, Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie among the most liked politicians in the country, while One Nation polls up to 14 per cent.

Both feel like significant, trend-bucking events, defying the conventional wisdom of the moment. In the US, a socialist Muslim anti-Zionist is meant to be unelectable. In Anthony Albanese’s Australia, political profit is meant to be won in the centre, avowed right-wing politics leading on