Record numbers of Australians turn their backs on the Melbourne Cup
Almost seven in ten Australians now have little or no interest in the Melbourne Cup, the highest figure on record. The Guardian, reporting on a fresh Essential poll, put the number at 68%.
The Essential poll asked 1,003 Australians in late October how interested they were in the race. Only 9% said they had high interest. That is down 7 percentage points from 2025. Another 23% said moderate interest, down 3 points.
The rest split between the two lower answers. 29% said low interest, up 5 points on last year. A further 39% said they had no interest at all, up 8 points. Taken together, the 68% who said low or no interest is up 12 points on 2025, and the 32% who said high or moderate is the lowest since the question was first asked in November 2022.
The Cup is a handicap, a race where the better horses are made to carry more weight, so that the field finishes closer together. It is one of the great occasions on the Australian calendar, and it is run at Flemington in Melbourne. Yet the poll suggests that many people no longer feel the pull.
Betting is a big part of that picture. The Guardian reported that 12% of respondents said they regularly bet on horse races and would bet on the Cup, down 5 points. Another 46% said they were not interested and would not place a bet, up 6 points.
Attitudes to the race itself have also shifted. In the poll, 62% agreed the Cup was a unique part of Australia's national identity, down from 78% in 2019. Half of respondents, 50%, said the race promotes unhealthy gambling, up 3 points since last year. A smaller group, 36%, said it normalises animal cruelty, which is down 3 points. Almost half, 48%, said they were less interested in the Cup than they used to be.
Interest in the race and interest in the betting market are not the same thing. The ABC reported that key international runners attracted big bets at Monday's Call of the Card, the traditional announcement of the final field, and that a battle for favouritism had taken shape. The poll does not measure how many people will watch or bet on the day. It measures how people say they feel about the race.
The figures are a snapshot. But they show a clear direction. Fewer Australians call themselves keen on the Cup, more say it leans too far towards gambling, and fewer see it as a defining part of national life.
