Close result predicted for election: poll

MALCOLM Turnbull has woken up to two bad polls today as MPs head back to Canberra for a special sitting of Parliament.

PM Malcolm Turnbull and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce talk to truckies at an anti-RSRT rally of owner/drivers at Exhibition Park in Canberra.

MALCOLM Turnbull has woken to two sets of bad polling numbers today as MPs head back to Canberra for a special sitting of Parliament.

Labor has maintained its lead over the Coalition in two-party preferred terms by 51 per cent to 49 per cent, the latest Newspoll shows; while a Fairfax-Ipsos poll puts support for the Coalition and Labor across the country on a knife edge at 50-50.

The Newspoll, taken for The Australian, shows the Coalition’s primary vote has remained unchanged at 41 per cent in the past fortnight.

Labor’s primary vote support is also unchanged at 36 per cent, the poll of 1628 voters taken from last Thursday until Sunday shows.

The Greens were steady at 11 per cent, as was support for other parties and independents at 12 per cent.

Mr Turnbull remained the choice as better prime minister, but his support of 47 per cent was down one point while Mr Shorten gained one point to 28 per cent.

The numbers are strong for Labor, but not so good for Opposition Leader Bill Shorten in the preferred prime minister stakes.

The 39-point margin that Mr Turnbull enjoyed over Mr Shorten as better prime minister at the start of the year has been halved to 19 points.

Satisfaction with Mr Turnbull’s performance as prime minister has fallen for the fifth consecutive Newspoll survey, dropping another two points to 36 per cent.

Mr Shorten’s satisfaction rating was down one point to 31 per cent.

Meanwhile, A knife-edge result for the upcoming election has been predicted by a new poll taken for Fairfax papers that has the Turnbull Government and Labor opposition neck and neck.

The The Fairfax-Ipsos poll, conducted over the weekend, has the two major parties at 50-50, assuming an allocation of preferences similar to those at the last election.

Federal MPs and senators are heading back to Canberra today for the week’s special sitting to vote on key legislation to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission and the registered organisations bill.

If they don’t support those bills, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he will advise Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove to dissolve both houses for a July 2 election.