Tony Abbott breathes life into his ratings as Julia Gillard lags

Leaders' net satisfaction ratings

THE latest Newspoll results are significant. Julia Gillard's net satisfaction rating -- the number of voters satisfied with her performance minus those dissatisfied -- continues to lag badly.

Since she announced plans to break her election commitment and introduce a carbon tax, her ratings have been -12, -7 and -10. The latest poll has her on -11.

During this time Labor's primary vote has struggled to get into the mid-30s and its two-party vote has trailed the Coalition's on all but one occasion. But the real story from the latest polling figures is that for the first time during this period, Gillard's net satisfaction rating is worse than Tony Abbott's. The first poll after Gillard announced the carbon tax backflip had her dropping from +11 to -12. However, while she is now on -11, Abbott in just three polls has clawed back from -21 to -6.

Neither leader is especially popular with the public, but Abbott's approval is heading in the right direction while Gillard's languishes.

The reasons for the turnaround are obvious.

The Opposition Leader's relentless negativity on pricing carbon has been the reason Gillard and Labor are so on the nose. He has prosecuted a powerful case to discredit Labor for its election "lie" and its economic vandalism.

But in selling such negativity Abbott has risked his personal ratings to elevate the party vote for the Coalition. It has been a selfless campaign and the right thing to do. But he needed to inject some positivity into his campaign to quash any suggestion that he was a drag on the Coalition's chances of winning the next election.

In the past fortnight, Abbott has announced a generous mental health package, welfare-to-work reforms and his frontbenchers have engaged in positive debate about the ideological direction of the Liberal Party. They haven't set aside their campaign against the carbon tax, and nor should they. But they are showing voters the Coalition isn't a one-trick pony; it has an agenda for government.