Tony Abbott is staging an unlikely recovery in the polls even as speculation about his leadership rumbles on.
A Fairfax-Ipsos poll published on Sunday puts the coalition almost neck-and-neck with Labor in two-party terms at 49-51.
That's the best result since October and a big improvement on the 54-46 split recorded in January.
Labor's primary vote dropped four points to sit at 36 per cent, while the coalition has gained four points to hit 42 per cent, the poll of 1406 voters suggests.
The results confirm a surge in government support suggested last week by Newspoll, which found primary support for the government rising three points.
Yet Mr Abbott continues to lag former leader Malcolm Turnbull as preferred leader, losing out in all 10 of the leadership attributes surveyed.
A fifth of those polled believe Mr Abbott enjoys the confidence of his party. Half think Mr Turnbull does.
Labor leader Bill Shorten remains preferred prime minister, but his margin has been slashed from 16 points to five to sit at 44-39.
Mr Abbott laughed off the latest round of leadership speculation on Sunday, amid talk of a second spill motion.
He said the matter had been settled by the party room three weeks ago.
The poll has a 2.6 per cent margin of error.
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