Labor’s support has plummeted and Julia Gillard has lost her lead over Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister in findings that threaten to increase leadership pressure just seven months from the election.
The latest Australian Financial Review/Nielsen Poll also shows Kevin Rudd has stretched his lead over Ms Gillard as preferred Labor leader and more than half of voters now think Labor should change.
Since the last poll before Christmas, Labor’s primary vote has fallen 5 percentage points to 30 per cent and the Coalition’s has risen 4 points to 47 per cent, giving it a two-party preferred lead over Labor of 56 per cent to 44 per cent.
This represents a two-party swing of 6 per cent since the last election which, if repeated on September 14, could cost Labor up to 26 seats.
The poll of 1400 voters was taken from Thursday night to Saturday night and shows that all Labor’s gains achieved since July last year, when the carbon price was introduced, have vanished.
It follows Labor breaking its budget surplus promise and a rough start to the election year marred by mistakes, a cabinet reshuffle, leadership instability, speculation about cuts to superannuation tax concessions and the failure of the mining tax to raise much revenue, which has damaged both Ms Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan.
Abbott’s personal ratings jump
Equally damaging for Ms Gillard is that she now lags Mr Abbott as preferred prime minister. Mr Abbott’s personal ratings have risen sharply while Ms Gillard’s have plunged to the extent she is statistically even with her opponent in terms of approval.
