When it comes to who polled voters prefer as Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd wins hands down.
He has consistently maintained a strong lead on that question in polls and the latest Newspoll in The Australian is no exception.
As Mr Rudd challenges Julia Gillard on Monday in a Labor parliamentary ballot to see who will be prime minister, he holds a healthy 53 per cent to 28 per cent as preferred PM over her in a poll taken over the weekend.
He also leads Opposition leader Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister, but it's a bit closer at 53 per cent to 34 per cent.
In a glimmer of hope for Labor, voting support is at its highest in 12 months with its primary vote rising three points to 35 per cent from two weeks ago compared to the coalition which is steady at 45 per cent.
The Australian says that, based on preference flows at the 2010 election, the coalition has a two-party preferred lead over Labor of 53 per cent to 47 per cent - still landslide territory - compared with 55 per cent to 45 per cent two weeks ago.
But while the party's support has strengthened, support for Ms Gillard has declined, with satisfaction falling from 32 per cent to 26 per cent in the past two weeks and dissatisfaction rising from 57 per cent to 64 per cent.
Satisfaction with Mr Abbott's performance as opposition leader also fell - from 36 per cent to 31 per cent, while dissatisfaction rose five points from 52 per cent to 57 per cent.
Front page
RSS Feed