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Voter support for Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Australian Labor Party (ALP) hit its lowest level on record in the 2013 election campaign, a latest Newspoll showed on Monday.
The survey, conducted by The Australian over the weekend, found the Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in his best position ever against Kevin Rudd.
According to the poll, voter dissatisfaction with Kevin Rudd jumped six percentage points to 54 percent, and voter satisfaction with him dropped to 35 percent, down 4 percentage points since the last Newspoll two weeks ago. Meanwhile, Tony Abbott's dissatisfaction rating fell one point to 51 percent.
The ALP's primary vote, at 34 percent, is also at its lowest level since Kevin Rudd removed Julia Gillard as Prime Minister and the Coalition's primary vote of 47 percent is at its highest during the same time.
And the Newspoll showed that the turnaround during the campaign has occurred on the question of who would make the better Prime Minister, with Kevin Rudd's support falling from 46 percent to 43 percent and Tony Abbott's rising four points to 41 percent.
While Rudd leads Abbott 43 to 41, it is the closest Abbott has been to Kevin Rudd as preferred Prime Minister, even just before he was removed in 2010.
Since Kevin Rudd returned with high voter support in the first week of last month, which was 43 percent satisfaction and 36 percent dissatisfaction, voter satisfaction has fallen steadily by eight percentage points and dissatisfaction has jumped 18 points, the Newspoll said.
As the election campaign enters the third week, the ALP is facing a four-point swing away from it since the last election, which would cost the government at least 14 seats if the poll were held now, said local media.
Acknowledging Labor's dire position in the polls, Finance Minister and campaign spokeswoman Penny Wong said if the election had been held on Saturday, "Mr. Abbott would be Prime Minister."
