Annastacia Palaszczuk falls behind as preferred Queensland premier

Annastacia Palaszczuk has swatted away suggestions she will not win another state election after a poll found that Labor is not on track to come back in Queensland.

Annastacia Palaszczuk has brushed off signs that her government will not return to power at the next Queensland election.

Almost half of Queenslanders (47 per cent) had an unfavourable view of the premier, while 46 per cent felt the state is heading in the wrong direction under her leadership, according to a poll by Freshwater Strategy for the Australian Financial Review.

Ms Palaszczuk has slipped down in the preferred premier stakes, behind Opposition Leader David Crisafulli by 45 per cent to 44 per cent.

A defiant premier said that she would remain in the top job through the next election. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

That’s despite 39 per cent of voters not knowing who Mr Crisafulli is.

The reigning premier dismissed the finding, arguing that she would remain Labor leader despite having a net popularity rating of -8.

“I love my job,” Palaszczuk said on Wednesday. “I love working for the people of this state.

“I’m not going to listen to a poll that’s mainly made up of LNP operatives.”

The poll also showed that 35 per cent of voters said that Labor was “less electable” if led by Ms Palaszczuk, though 30 per cent said the party would be “more electable” if she remained.

The research also found that the Liberal National Party was preferred above Labor by 52 per cent to 48 per cent on a two-party basis.

Forty per cent of Queenslanders did not know who Opposition leader David Crisafulli is. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

“Look, honestly, there’s only one poll that counts – that’s election day,” she said.

“We were the underdogs going into the last election and we’ll probably be the underdogs going into the next election.”

The AFR poll is the second time that the Premier’s popularity has waned in the polls, after a YouGov survey in April.