Newspoll: Malcolm Turnbull’s support high but Coalition still trails Labor

EXCLUSIVE | Popular support for Malcolm Turnbull hits its highest level since 2016 but the Coalition loses again to Labor.

Malcolm Turnbull speaks at the 60th Federal Council of the Liberal Party on Saturday. Picture: AAP.

Popular support for Malcolm Turnbull has hit its highest level since the last election but the Prime Minster has failed to lift support for the government, which continues to trail Labor with five critical by-elections looming.

The results come as One Nation suffered a significant hit in the wake of the public feud between Pauline Hanson and her former One Nation senator Brian Burston, with a two-point drop in its popular vote.

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As both major parties prepare to intensify their campaigns for the July 28 “Super Saturday” showdown, an exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows Mr Turnbull consolidating his dominance over Bill Shorten as the more popular and competent leader.

Satisfaction with Mr Turnbull’s performance has now hit 40 per cent for the first time since June 2016 — albeit on the back of a one-point rise — while the Labor leader failed to make any ground in his bid to appeal to voters through a recent media charm offensive.

However, the Opposition Leader enjoys a comfortable lead in the election contest, with Labor retaining its 52-48 per cent lead over the Coalition in two-party-preferred stakes.

Today’s result mark the 34th consecutive losing Newspoll for the Coalition under Mr Turnbull’s leadership — four more than the 30 losing Newspolls he cited as one of the reasons he challenged Tony ­Abbott for the leadership in September 2015.

The poll covers a period marked by the revival of the Barnaby Joyce love child scandal and government ­attempts to put national security back in the spotlight with its proposed foreign espionage laws.

The fall in support for One Nation follows Senator Burston’s resignation after a dispute with Senator Hanson over her mercurial position on the government’s company tax cuts.

It will come as unwelcome news for the government in the lead-up to next month’s by-­election in the Queensland seat of Longman — forced by Labor’s citizenship crisis and the resignation of sitting member Susan Lamb.

The LNP was relying on a higher flow of preferences from One Nation than was the case at the last election when Labor won the seat due to One Nation’s decision to direct preferences away from the LNP.

A collapse in primary vote for One Nation would make the seat near impossible for the LNP to win at the by-­election, with Labor holding the seat by just a 0.8 per cent margin.

Today’s Newspoll shows One Nation dropping two points back to 6 per cent, which marks one of its lowest primary votes recorded since the July 2016 election. The Greens clawed back a point to 10 per cent, while a point was also gained by “other” minor parties and independents.

The primary votes of Labor and the Coalition remained unchanged on 38 per cent. Mr Turnbull maintained his lead over Mr Shorten as the preferred prime minister despite dropping a point to 46 per cent and the Labor leader gaining a point to 31 per cent. Satisfaction with Mr Shorten, however, dropped a point to 33 per cent while dissatisfaction with Mr Turnbull ticked up a point to 50 per cent. Both remain on net negative satisfaction ratings, with Mr Shorten on minus 22 per cent and Mr Turnbull on minus 10 per cent.