A majority of surveyed Australians approve of Pauline Hanson’s leadership of One Nation, giving her a higher job approval rating than Anthony Albanese and Angus Taylor, as the Guardian Essential poll finds the rightwing populist party is outperforming the Coalition for the first time.

The results come as Australians are becoming more pessimistic about the country and the economy, with the majority of respondents saying they expected things to get worse in coming months.

The latest Guardian Essential poll , of 1,067 Australians conducted last week, found 23% of respondents strongly approved of the job Hanson is doing as leader of One Nation, with another 29% saying they approved.…