Only 28 per cent of voters back Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as Labor’s preferred leader

Less than a third of voters back Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton as the leaders of their own parties, a Newspoll has found.

Less than a third of Australians back Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as their preferred leader of the Labor Party.

A Newspoll conducted for The Australian found only 28 per cent of voters supported Mr Albanese and Peter Dutton as their preferred leaders of the Labor and Liberal parties respectively.

Mr Albanese remains in the lead for preferred prime minister, seven points ahead of Mr Dutton.

In the Labor camp, about 13 per cent of voters supported Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek as leader, while 10 per cent backed former Labor leader and NDIS Minister Bill Shorten, 8 per cent were behind Treasurer Jim Chalmers, and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen were backed by a respective 4 and 2 per cent.

Only 28 per cent of voters back Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as their preferred leader of the Labor Party. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton didn’t fare much better than Mr Albanese, with only 28 per cent of voters backing him as the preferred leader of the Coalition. Picture: Dan Peled / NewsWire

Looking to the Coalition, 14 per cent of voters backed Indigenous Affairs spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to step up to the leader’s role, followed by deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley at 6 per cent, shadow treasurer Angus Taylor at 5 per cent, opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie at 5 per cent, and opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan at 3 per cent.

However, a shocking 35 per cent chose the “don’t know option” when it came to Labor leaders, while 39 per cent opted for the same option for Liberal leaders.

About 38 per cent of voters reported they would support the Coalition if a federal election was announced, a 2 per cent increase from June 30 figures.

Labor, trailing behind at 33 per cent, only had a 1 per cent increase in suppot from June 30.

The Greens remained stable at 13 per cent, while backing for independents dropped from 12 to 10 per cent.

Support for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation also declined from 7 to 6 per cent.

For the question of who would make a better prime minister, 46 per cent were in Mr Albanese’s corner compared with Mr Dutton’s 39 per cent.

It comes after Mr Albanese brushed off rumours he might call an early election on July 11.

“The election will be when I call it, when I go to the Governor-General,” he said.

“So if you follow me around, one day, between Monday and Sunday of one week, between now and next May, you’ll see me go off to Yarralumla and we will call the election and away we go.”

Mr Albanese said he wasn’t concerned about opinion polls showing the Coalition making ground on Labor.

“None of them, not one of them, not a single Newspoll has had us behind. They’re behind,” he said.

The Newspoll was conducted between July 15 and July 19 with 1258 Australian voters.

Originally published as Only 28 per cent of voters back Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as Labor’s preferred leader