Almost half of voters, 48%, had made their choice about which party they were voting for well before Scott Morrison fired the starter’s gun for the federal election in April, and 11% made up their minds on 18 May, according to a post-election review by Essential.

More than a quarter of voters in the sample, 26%, had not yet made up their minds as the federal campaign entered its closing weeks. That number was down to 11% by polling day, with those voters making their decision on the day they cast their ballots.

The Essential review underscores the fact that undecided voters broke the Coalition’s way in the final weeks of the campaign, with 40% of people who made up their minds in the closing week backing the Coalition, compared with 31% for Labor.

For the cohort who made their decision on the day, 38% broke Morrison’s way and 27% Bill Shorten’s way. Labor’s campaign pace slowed in the final week of the contest, with a hiatus to mark the death of the former prime minister Bob Hawke.

The voters who made their decision comfortably in advance of the closing campaign pitches were more likely to be older. Voters aged over 55 were the most likely cohort to decide more than a month before voting (60%), while people aged 18-34 were most likely to decide in the week before voting day (21%).

Essential’s review also points to substantial voter disengagement, 44% saying they paid little or no attention to news, advertising or updates throughout the five weeks. Younger voters, again, tended to be more tuned out.

Around a third of people surveyed, 34%, reported paying some attention to proceedings on the hustings, and 22% said they paid close attention. Voters over 55 were the most likely group to report watching proceedings closely (26%).

There were also splits between voters with different levels of education or professional qualifications, with 24% of voters without professional or higher education qualifications saying they paid no attention to the political pitches, which compares with 7% of people with university degrees reporting being completely tuned out.

People with university-level qualifications were more likely to have paid a lot of attention during the campaign (30%).

Voters were also asked to identify issues that helped determine their vote in 2019. Management of the economy was the most mentioned issue, with 16% saying it was the most important consideration in choosing which party to vote for, and 31% reporting this was the reason they voted Coalition.

Climate change swung votes to Labor and the Greens. Labor voters identified cost of living (16%), climate change (12%), increasing wages (11%), healthcare (8%) and job creation (7%) as positive reasons for voting for Shorten. Unsurprisingly, a significant chunk of people who voted Green said climate change was the determining factor (53%).

With concern about the strength of the economy, and with market analysts pointing to the likelihood that the Reserve Bank will cut the official cash rate on Tuesday, almost half of voters surveyed want the new Morrison government to make spending on public services, and reducing unemployment, a priority during the coming term.

The perceived priorities among people who voted for Morrison are returning the budget to surplus (57%), job creation (53%) and maintaining border protection (52%).

When asked to nominate where they got information about the election, just under half (47%) of voters said television was their primary source. Television was followed by online news (15%) and social media platforms (11%).

The cohort that tuned out were more likely to get information from friends and family than from media or social media.

Morrison looks set to govern with 77 seats in the House of Representatives when parliament returns in July, which is similar to Malcolm Turnbull’s position after the 2016 election. Labor has 68 seats in the lower house, and the crossbench numbers six.

Both the Coalition and Labor have reshuffled their ministerial line ups post-election and Anthony Albanese has taken the ALP leadership from Shorten, who remains on the opposition frontbench.

The Coalition is making a priority of getting income tax cuts passed when parliament resumes, and Albanese says Labor needs to listen to the voter feedback from the recent contest, and recalibrate its program.

Morrison is on a trip to the Solomon Islands, the United Kingdom and Singapore, and Labor’s shadow cabinet will meet for the first time since the election in Brisbane on Tuesday.

None of the major opinion polls – Newspoll, Ipsos, Galaxy or Essential – correctly predicted a Coalition win on May 18, projecting Labor in front on a two-party-preferred vote of 51-49 and 52-48.

The lack of precision in the polling has prompted public reflection at Essential, as has been flagged by its executive director Peter Lewis. The latest post-election review does not include a measurement of primary votes or a two-party-preferred calculation.