Shock poll showed Liberal leader Brad Battin in election-winning position as he faced leadership challenge from Jess Wilson

Exclusive polling conducted in the wake of Jacinta Allan’s crime crackdown shows Brad Battin had an election-winning lead over Labor, despite his colleagues turning on him.

A shock poll shows Opposition Leader Brad Battin is personally popular with Victorians and has an election-winning lead over Labor, with a clear majority of voters saying it is time to give him and the Liberals a go at government.

The findings are from a Freshwater Strategy poll conducted for the Herald Sun over the weekend after Labor unveiled its youth crime blitz, which also showed a clear majority of Victorians believe it is time to give the Battin and the Liberal Party a chance to govern.

Mr Battin was toppled as leader of the Victorian Liberal Party by his Shadow Treasurer Jess Wilson on Tuesday morning, with the upper house leader David Davis also facing a challenge from veteran Liberal Bev McArthur.

Jess Wilson has toppled Brad Battin as leader of the Victorian Liberal Party.

The Freshwater poll found the Coalition’s primary has risen three points to 37 per cent since the last election while Labor has dropped seven to 30 per cent.

On a two-party preferred basis this gives the Battin-lead opposition a 51 per cent to 49 per cent lead of Jacinta Allan’s government.

Mr Battin is also personally popular with Victorian, having a net favorability rating of +15 which was higher than Anthony Albanese (-2) and Sussan Ley (-3) and miles ahead of the deeply unpopular Premier whose net favourability rating is -28.

The Liberal leader’s mooted challenger Ms Wilson is also liked, with a net favorability of +7, though she is relatively unknown, with few voters having a strong opinion of her.

Mr Battin leads Ms Allan as preferred premier 45 per cent to 34 per cent, with 21 per cent undecided.

At 60 per cent, an overwhelming majority of voters believe the Allan-led Labor Government is doing a bad job running Victoria, with barely one-in-four (26 per cent) saying they are doing a good job.

Asked if Ms Allan and Labor deserve re-election, only 34 per cent agreed, while a clear majority – 54 per cent – agreed with the statement “No, it is time to give Brad Battin and the Liberal Party a chance.”

But despite this, 42 per cent said they expect Labor to be re-elected next November compared to 32 per cent who said they expect the Coalition to triumph.

Brad Battin was in an election winning position, new polling shows. Picture: Nadir Kinani

Voters are also extremely gloomy about the state’s prospects with only 27 per cent saying they believe Victoria is heading in the right direction compared with 58 per cent to say it is going the wrong way.

The survey was conducted between 14 and 17 November via online panel and interviews, with a sample size of 1,217.

Originally published as Shock poll showed Liberal leader Brad Battin in election-winning position as he faced leadership challenge from Jess Wilson