Labor and Prime Minister Julia Gillard have improved their standing in two new opinion polls published on Monday.The Newspoll, published in The Australian newspaper, shows Labor and the coalition are evenly ranked at 50 per cent each in the two-party preferred stakes ahead of the federal election due next year.
Since the last poll two weeks ago, Labor’s primary support has gone up three percentage points to 36 per cent, while the coalition’s crashed five points to 41 – its lowest since March 2011.
Meanwhile, in the leadership stakes, voter satisfaction with Ms Gillard is now at 36 per cent – its highest since December – while dissatisfaction with her performance fell five points from two weeks ago to 52.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s satisfaction rating was virtually unchanged at 30 per cent and likewise his dissatisfaction level stayed at 60.
As for who would make the better prime minister, support for Ms Gillard jumped seven points to 46 per cent, while Mr Abbott’s slumped six points from a fortnight ago to 32.
The 14-point lead is the biggest Ms Gillard has commanded over Mr Abbott in 16 months.
Meanwhile, the latest Nielsen poll, published in Fairfax newspapers, showed the coalition’s two-party-preferred vote slipping one point in the last three weeks, but it still holds an election-winning lead of 53 per cent to Labor’s 47, up one point.
But there were a steady gain elsewhere as well, with Labor’s primary vote increasing two points to 34, while the coalition stayed on 45 and the Greens lost one point to 10.
Ms Gillard also leads Mr Abbott as preferred leader by three points – 47 per cent (up one point) to 44 (down one).
Her approval rating also has risen by three points to 42, and her disapproval rating has fallen four points to 53 – her highest approval and lowest disapproval since May last year.
Meanwhile, Mr Abbott’s approval rating has weakened three points to a record low of 36, as controversy swirls about his behaviour as an undergraduate 35 years ago.
Among women, he is 12 points behind as preferred prime minister, but leads by five points among men.
The Australian said some of the issues affecting the Newspoll results included Labor’s campaign against Mr Abbott over allegations of intimidation during his university days, its ban on a Dutch super-trawler from Australian waters and the first asylum seekers arriving on Nauru, while Ms Gillard took a week off to mourn her father’s death.
Source: skynews