Newspoll: Turnbull extends reign as better prime minister

EXCLUSIVE | The PM has maintained his lead over Bill Shorten despite Labor holding all its seats on Super Saturday.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, left, and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, right.

Malcolm Turnbull has maintained his commanding lead over Bill Shorten as the nation’s preferred prime minister, despite Labor holding all of its seats in the weekend’s by-election.

An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows Mr Shorten now presiding over the longest period of disapproval for an opposition leader since the mid to late-1980s when John Howard was leader of the Liberal Party.

Labor’s thumping win in the Queensland seat of Longman on Saturday is not reflected in the ­national poll, which did not find any shift in voter support back towards Labor. The 10 per cent primary vote swing against the Liberal National Party in the Longman by-election lies in stark contrast to the national scene, with the Coalition increasing its primary vote to 39 per cent to open the gap to three points over Labor.

While the two-party-preferred split remains at 51-49 in favour of Labor, the result marks no change from the previous poll a fortnight ago.

This is the third successive poll showing just a two-point margin between the two major parties.

It is also the second poll to record a 19-point gap between Mr Turnbull and Mr Shorten on the question of leadership.

The poll of 1704 voters nationally conducted across city and country areas between Thursday and yesterday is the 37th consecutive Newspoll in which the ­Coalition has trailed Labor on a two-party-preferred vote.

Mr Turnbull is leading as the preferred prime minister on 48 per cent to Mr Shorten’s 29 per cent. This was Mr Turnbull’s best result since May 2016, before the last federal election. Mr Shorten’s popularity continues to be an issue for Labor with the Opposition Leader’s streak of negative approval rating stretching to 1256 days and covering 70 Newspolls.

The latest poll shows Mr Shorten’s satisfaction rating remained at 32 per cent while those dissatisfied with his performance rose to 57 per cent, producing a net negative of minus 25.

Mr Shorten now equals Mr Howard’s record as Liberal leader between 1985 and 1989, although his 1256 days in negative territory covered 49 polls before he was ­replaced.

He became prime minister in 1996 after taking back the Liberal leadership a year earlier.

The approval rating for Mr Turnbull rose one point to 42 per cent while disapproval also dropped a point to 48, reducing the net satisfaction rating to minus six.

While Mr Turnbull remains more popular than Mr Shorten, neither leader is well supported, with 23 per cent of voters remaining uncommitted when it came to the question of who was the preferred prime minister.

Mr Turnbull had set 30 losing Newspolls as one of the measures by which he justified challenging Tony Abbott for the Liberal ­leadership in September 2015. The latest poll showed no movement in popular support for any of the minor parties.

The Greens remained on 10 per cent while One Nation maintained a 7 per cent primary vote.

The improvement for the ­Coalition came from other independents, which dropped back from 9 per cent to 8 per cent.

The poll will provide some ­relief for Mr Turnbull who has come under fire over the by-­election results.

A Newspoll conducted for The Australian last week accurately predicted a Labor victory in the seat of Longman and the Tas­manian seat of Braddon.

It also predicted a 14 per cent primary vote for One Nation in Longman, which was only two points less than what was recorded on the day.

Unpopular Opposition Leaders.