| My best mate is the smartest person I know and has one of the sharpest political brains I have ever encountered. Engage him in any debate and he will present a towering case, a great tapestry of logic that stitches together a mountain of evidence and lays the whole job lot at your feet as an impenetrable and indisputable fait accompli. Then he will pause for a moment and add: “Of course I could just as easily argue the opposite…” It sounds a simple thing and perhaps it is, but it is also vital. And it is also something the Coalition clearly forgot to do. There is every indication today that the Opposition is heading for an electoral bloodbath. The latest YouGov poll is predicting the Albanese government will actually increase its number of seats to 84 while the Coalition will go backwards to 47. An exit poll in Dickson conducted by The Courier Mail suggests Peter Dutton could even lose his own seat. While such apocalyptic predictions may be inflated, it is clear the Liberal leader is about to have a very bad day at the office. Only a few months ago the Coalition was riding high at 52-48 two-party preferred and was favourite among the bookies to win the election. Today it is facing a possible wipeout. And so where did it all go wrong? Already there has been bitter fingerpointing within the Coalition camp — or its two opposing camps to be precise — while others will blame everything on Trump or the media or Labor lies. But ultimately it comes down to my mate’s absolute maxim: Always test every argument with the opposite argument to see if it still stacks up. FULL LIST: WHERE TO VOTE TOMORROW  Warren Brown takes a look at Anthony Albanese's confidence as election day looms. SEE THE LIGHTER SIDE OF THE CAMPAIGN HERE INTERACTIVE: Don't know who to vote for? Election MatchMaker is here to help Dutton and his team clearly believed they were on a winning argument and had nobody telling them they were wrong until it was all too late. It was classic echo chamber politics, pure and simple. And the problem with echo chamber politics is that it is incredibly alluring, like those deep sea fish that use a pretty light to attract their prey only to crush their jaws around the unsuspecting morsel. It starts by being surrounded by people who say your default position is correct and don’t challenge your beliefs or your arguments. You then feed these ideas to your base, these days almost entirely through social media, and of course they immediately resonate with the people who already agree. CLICK HERE FOR JOE HILDEBRAND'S FULL ANALYSIS | 
