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The latest result of Newspoll on Monday, conducted for The Australian at the weekend, puts the Australian Labor Party's primary support at 32 percent -- a wipeout of the six-point gain recorded between December and January -- as the Coalition's support rose 4 percentage points to 48 percent in the past three weeks.
And a Galaxy poll published in News Limited newspapers today puts Labor's support at 35 percent and the Coalition's at 48 percent. That gives a two-party-preferred lead for the Coalition of 54 percent to 46 percent.
According to the Newspoll, Labor's primary vote is back to the level it was at the end of the parliamentary year in December, and the Coalition's primary support is the highest since July last year. On a two-party-preferred basis, using preference flows at the 2010 election, the Coalition has its biggest lead since July.
The poll shows voter satisfaction in the performance of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has improved, while there has been a drop in personal support for Gillard.
The Newspoll was taken just days after Prime Minister Julia Gillard named the date for this year's election and after former Labor MP Craig Thomson was charged with fraud.
Julia Gillard has made a surprise announcement last Wednesday that the federal election will be held on Saturday, September 14. She said she wanted to avoid constant speculation of the likely date of the poll during an election year. Instead, she wanted certainty and stability for Australian businesses and politics.
And last Thursday the Labor-turned independent MP has been arrested at his electorate office on the Central Coast in New South Wale, following a fraud investigation by Victoria Police.
He is an ex-MP of Gillard's Labor party, and was forced to step down from the party in 2012 while facing allegations of fraud, including the procurement of prostitutes on union credit cards when he was a senior figure in the Health Services Union between 2002 and 2007.
This case has been to question the prime minister's judgment by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, particularly over her initial support for Thomson last year. The arrest last Thursday provided Abbott with an opportunity again to attack Gillard on this point.
"It's always been about the judgment of the prime minister who [by letting him remain as a Labor MP until last year] was running a protection racket for Craig Thomson for months or years," Abbott told local media.
The poll was also affected by the reshuffle of the cabinet last weekend. Julia Gillard today has sworn in a new cabinet to replace two senior ministers who quit their posts a few days after the Australian prime minister named 14 September as the date for general elections.
Last Saturday, Labor Leader in Senate, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research, Chris Evans, and Federal Attorney-General and Minister for Emergency Management Nicola Roxon, announced to resign, leading to a government reshuffle only three days after her announcement of the date.
Although they denied that they quit to abandon the "sinking ship" of the Labor party ahead of the federal election, and Gillard also denied that the reshuffle showed that her government was in turmoil, The Australian said some inside government believe could herald more senior departures. Enditem
