JULIA Gillard has regained her lead over Tony Abbott as the nation's preferred leader and Labor's primary vote has risen after the Prime Minister used her week-long campaign in western Sydney to pledge action on traffic congestion and foreign worker schemes.
As federal Labor MPs returning to parliament today were blamed for contributing to the party's heavy loss in the weekend election in Western Australia, the latest Newspoll survey revealed Labor's primary vote had risen three percentage points in the past two weeks to 34 per cent.
The Newspoll, conducted exclusively for The Australian at the weekend, revealed Ms Gillard's support as preferred prime minister jumped six points to 42 per cent as support for the Opposition Leader slipped from 40 per cent to 38 per cent.
The Coalition's primary vote fell three points to 44 per cent, with the Greens steady on 11 per cent. Based on preference flows at the 2010 election, this translates into a two-party-preferred lead for the Coalition of 52 per cent to 48 per cent, down from a 10-point gap two weeks ago.
The lift in Labor's primary vote and return as preferred prime minister will help the embattled Ms Gillard fend off continuing concern and complaints about her leadership and political strategy.
But the Newspoll survey also showed that former prime minister Kevin Rudd would be a far more popular leader than Ms Gillard, potentially delivering a significant lift in support for Labor.
When asked how they would vote if Mr Rudd led Labor and Mr Abbott led the Coalition, 47 per cent of voters said they would vote for the government and 39 per cent for the opposition.
The suggested boost in Labor's primary vote compares with support of 38 per cent at the August 2010 election and 34 per cent on the weekend under Ms Gillard.
A Labor primary vote of 47 per cent could translate into an election-winning, two-party preferred lead of 56 per cent to the Coalition's 44 per cent. The two-party preferred result at the 2010 election, where the Gillard government lost its majority, was Labor 50.1 per cent and the Coalition 49.9 per cent.
Ms Gillard still trails Mr Rudd as preferred Labor leader and Employment Minister Bill Shorten is within nine percentage points of the Prime Minister as "the best candidate to lead the Labor Party".
Mr Rudd is preferred over Ms Gillard 44 per cent to her 25 per cent; Mr Shorten is on 16 per cent.
Labor's primary vote of 34 per cent is its highest since parliament resumed at the beginning of last month and appears to be driven by a positive reaction to Ms Gillard's billion-dollar promises in western Sydney last week and her strident claims to put "Aussie jobs first" and send "foreign workers to the back of the queue". Labor's rhetoric, endorsed by former One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, addressed some of the fears about asylum-seekers in western Sydney but was criticised by employers and economists as being against the national interest and undermining efforts to engage with Asia.
Newspoll chief executive Martin O'Shannessy said there appeared to be a spike of Labor support in Sydney during the Newspoll survey taken from Friday to Sunday: "Further analysis of the Newspoll survey in NSW, which is a small sample, suggests a lift in Sydney drove the national rise in Labor's support, which was largely unchanged in other states."
Voter satisfaction for Ms Gillard went from 30 to 32 per cent and dissatisfaction was virtually unchanged on 57 per cent.
Satisfaction with Mr Abbott rose three points to 36 per cent - his highest level since February last year - and dissatisfaction was unchanged on 55 per cent.
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