Abbott Leads Gillard as Preferred PM

Although Tony Abbott's party is streets ahead of Labor in two-party preferred polling he has not engaged well with the public and has consistently lagged Gillard as preferred PM until now. The latest Newspoll shows Abbott leading on 41% to 39% for Gillard whose popularity has plummeted since the Carbon Tax proposal was mooted.

JULIA Gillard has sunk below Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister for the first time and is now the most unpopular modern prime minister since Paul Keating at his worst.

Voter satisfaction with Ms Gillard has sunk to a record low, along with her support as Prime Minister against the Opposition Leader.

According to the latest Newspoll, conducted exclusively for The Australian, satisfaction with the Prime Minister last weekend was down two percentage points to 28 per cent, her lowest since becoming leader a year ago and a fall of 22 percentage points since she announced the carbon tax.

Dissatisfaction with Ms Gillard has leapt to a high of 62 per cent, up seven points in the past two weeks.

On the question of who would make the better prime minister, she slipped below Mr Abbott for the first time, after falling two points to 39 per cent as Mr Abbott's support rose two points to 41 per cent.