Election 2016: Newspoll shows no budget bounce for PM who begins campaign behind

Malcolm Turnbull begins the fight of his political life with the government failing to win any bounce from the budget.

Malcolm Turnbull begins the fight of his political life with the government failing to receive any poll bounce from last week’s budget, meaning the Coalition starts a marathon 55-day election campaign behind Labor, according to the latest Newspoll.

Despite Mr Turnbull’s pledge to restore the Coalition’s poll lead and to show economic leadership when he toppled Tony Abbott as Prime Minister eight months ago, the Newspoll, taken exclusively for The Australian, reveals Labor has maintained its lead of 51 per cent to the Coalition’s 49 per cent in two-party-preferred terms.

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The Newspoll of 1739 people taken from Thursday to Saturday, in the wake of the budget that Mr Turnbull is using as a springboard for the election and the Opposition Leader’s budget reply speech, found no lift for the Coalition’s prim­ary vote, still at 41 per cent for the third consecutive survey.

Labor gained one point to 37 per cent, its highest primary vote since Mr Turnbull became Prime Minister 238 days ago.

Based on preference flows from the last election, with the Greens’ primary vote unchanged at 11 per cent and support for minor parties and independents down one point to 11 per cent, Labor maintained the 51-49 per cent two-party lead it has held since early last month.

Mr Turnbull begins the campaign easily ahead as the better prime minister, leading Mr Shorten by 49 per cent to 27 per cent.

His two-point rise to 49 per cent is the first increase on this measure since mid-November, ending a run of declines after Mr Turnbull soared to a six-year high for any leader in the weeks after he replaced­ Mr Abbott.

Mr Shorten dropped one point to 27 per cent but remains well ahead of the 14 per cent nadir he reached late last year.

Newspoll shows the satisfaction ratings for both men is becoming close, with 38 per cent satisfied with the Prime Minister’s performance and 33 per cent satisfied with Mr Shorten, both up two points.

Half of voters are dissatisfied with both men, with Mr Turnbull’s rating at 49 per cent and Mr Shorten at 52 per cent.

Mr Turnbull’s net satisfaction rating, which measures the difference between those who are satisfied and those who are dissatisfied, sits on -11 points, a sharp deterior­ation from late last year, when it was a positive 38 points. Mr Shorten’s is -19 points and has improved.