Coalition MP's ‘brutal' admission as support for Labor soars
Support for Labor has crept up as backers of the coalition have retreated, according to the first Newspoll since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's election win in May.
The survey, published in The Australian on Monday, showed a 1.4 percentage point rise in Labor's primary vote since the election to 36 per cent while the coalition slipped from 31.8 per cent to 29 per cent.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Barnaby Joyce addresses Coalition's declining support.
And on a two-party-preferred basis, the Labor government has bolstered its lead of 55.2 per cent to 44.8 per cent on May 3 to 57 per cent to 43 per cent in the Newspoll.
'They are brutal numbers,' Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce told Seven's Sunrise program on Monday.
'Obviously, it's going to be a hard time ... any person in a lower house seat ... if you had a three in front of your primary vote you would be very, very worried.'
The Greens' primary vote remained steady at 12 per cent, as did the independents and minor parties category on 15 per cent, while One Nation was up 1.6 percentage points to eight per cent.
The 29 per cent primary vote number is the coalition's lowest reading in a Newspoll survey since ?November 1985.
The combined Labor and coalition primary vote total - at 65 per cent - is also at its lowest level in Newspoll history.
Mr Albanese's pre-election Newspoll net approval rating of minus 10 improved in the survey published on Monday to zero, with 47 per cent of voters satisfied with his performance and an equal number dissatisfied.
The poll has new coalition leader Sussan Ley's net approval rating at minus seven, an upgrade from her predecessor Peter Dutton's minus 24 result, but 23 per cent of respondents indicated it was too early to judge her performance.
Federal minister Tanya Plibersek shrugged off suggestions Labor MPs risked becoming overconfident.
'The prime minister has made it very clear that we are there to deliver what we promised the Australian people, and that's our 100 per cent focus,' she told Sunrise.
The 48th parliament has its official opening in Canberra on Tuesday.
MPs and senators were welcomed by Governor-General Sam Mostyn at Government House on Sunday as part of formalities before the start of the new session.
Labor will have an increased majority in the new term, holding 94 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives after its election triumph on May 3.
The Newspoll survey of 1264 voters was conducted online between July 14 and July 17.
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31 minutes ago
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