Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have both suffered a drop in support and recorded their lowest approval rating since the election, new polling shows.
The latest Newspoll conducted for The Australian newspaper shows the Prime Minister’s satisfaction rating fell from 21 to 16.
The Opposition Leader’s satisfaction rating dropped six points to minus 19, the poll of 1514 voters found.
The level of support for Mr Albanese in the top job fell four points, while those who think Mr Dutton would make a better prime minister rose two points.
But Mr Albanese still leads as preferred prime minister 54 per cent to 28 per cent, according to the nationwide survey that was held between Wednesday and Sunday.
The government leads the Coalition 56 to 44 on a two-party preferred basis after a one-point gain for the Greens widened the contest between the two major parties by two points.
The primary vote for both major parties remains unchanged, with Labor on 38 per cent and the Coalition on 33 per cent.
The poll was conducted with the political debate over the upcoming Indigenous Voice to parliament referendum intensifying and the government preparing to hand down its second budget during grim economic conditions.
Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said Mr Albanese still enjoyed “very strong” support despite the decline in his personal approval rating.
“People tell me that they’re pleased to see a government that is just getting on with the job, doing what we promised,” she told Sunrise.
“And they’re impressed that the Prime Minister is just sticking with what he said he’d do.”
Speaking to the same breakfast television program, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce conceded the Liberals were not in a strong position.
“Well, we don’t have an election tomorrow and I suppose that’s a good thing,” the former deputy prime minister said.
However, Mr Joyce said he thought support for Mr Albanese would further decline before the Voice referendum later this year.
“I think a lot of people are starting (to) focus now on issues such as the Voice and saying, ‘Look, I don’t feel comfortable with this’,” he said.
Mr Joyce, who along with his federal Nationals colleagues will campaign against the referendum, accused Mr Albanese of not being “fulsome with the truth” of how the Indigenous advisory body would work.