Newspoll: Voters drift from PM, Coalition

Malcolm Turnbull has lost ground to Bill Shorten as the Coalition slips to another low in popular support.

Malcolm Turnbull has lost ground to Bill Shorten as preferred prime minister.

Malcolm Turnbull has lost ground to Bill Shorten as preferred prime minister as the Coalition slips to another low in popular support, with the government trailing Labor by 46 to 54 per cent in two-party terms.

Voters have cut their support for the Coalition from 37 to 36 per cent in primary-vote terms over the past three weeks in a verdict that cements Labor’s election-winning lead amid a furious political fight over the rising cost of electricity and gas.

Labor has held its core support at 38 per cent in one of its strongest results so far this year, while there was no change for the Greens on 9 per cent or One Nation on 8 per cent.

The result helped Labor widen its lead over the Coalition in two-party preferred terms, with enough voters drifting away from the government to increase support for smaller parties or independents from 8 to 9 per cent.

At 36 per cent, the Coalition primary vote is six percentage points below its result at the last election amid fears the government is losing some of its strongest supporters to new rivals such as the Australian Conservatives led by former Liberal senator Cory Bernardi.

The result comes after an ­intense government effort to ­assure Australians it is acting on household concerns including ­energy security and affordability, with Mr Turnbull calling electricity company chiefs to Canberra to outline ways to help customers get better deals.

Mr Turnbull has marked his second anniversary as Prime Minister with figures showing strong jobs growth, the successful passage of media ownership ­reforms and a move to prevent electricity price rises by forcing AGL to extend the life of its Liddell coal-fired power station in NSW or build new generators to replace it.

But the government had to contend with another intervention from Tony Abbott on the eve of the Newspoll survey, with the former prime minister warning that he would not support a clean energy target. Mr Abbott made his remarks in interviews last week, signalling he could cross the floor on energy and climate policy in a repeat of the Coalition’s division on the issues in 2009.

The Newspoll survey of 1695 voters was conducted from Thursday to Sunday and has a margin of error of 2.4 per cent.

Mr Turnbull has lost ground to Mr Shorten as preferred prime minister to lead by just 42 per cent to 31 per cent on the key measure, narrowing the margin between the two leaders to 11 per cent compared with 17 per cent three weeks ago. This was the most significant shift in the latest survey, with Mr Turnbull’s support falling four points from 46 per cent. Voters increased their support for Mr Shorten on this measure from two points, up from 29 per cent.

However, the Prime Minister’s net satisfaction rating — the difference ­between those who are satisfied and those who are dissatisfied with his performance — improved from minus 20 points to minus 17 points since the previous poll, taken from ­August 31 to September 3. The number of voters satisfied with Mr Turnbull’s performance rose from 34 to 35 per cent while the proportion who were dissatisfied shrank from 54 per cent to 52 per cent over the three weeks.

Mr Shorten’s net satisfaction rating held steady at minus 20 points.

In a sign of voter mistrust with both major parties, almost a third of voters gave their primary vote to the Greens, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and other parties or say they are “uncommitted”.