Embattled Liberal MP Bronwyn Bishop has already lost the speakership over a travel expenses scandal and now looks set to lose her seat if she contests the election.
A new poll conducted for News Corp indicates Ms Bishop faces electoral annihilation and could be unseated by entrepreneur Dick Smith if Mr Smith chooses to run in her north Sydney electorate of Mackellar at the next election.
Twenty-one per cent of those surveyed said they would give their primary vote to Ms Bishop, while 69 per cent believed she should retire.
In contrast, 54 per cent said they would give Dick Smith their primary vote if he contested the election, according to the MediaReach poll of 877 people in Mackellar on Monday.
Trade Minister Steve Ciobo said the preselection had not been decided and Ms Bishop had not made her intentions clear.
"So we wait and watch, ultimately there's a preselection process," Mr Ciobo told the Seven Network's Weekend Sunrise program.
"The party members of the Liberal Party in Mackellar will have the chance to have their say on who they want to represent them and ultimately that person will take forward the Liberal brand in Mackellar."
Of those polled, 52 per cent said they would vote Liberal if Ms Bishop wasn't running, while 18 per cent said they would be less likely to vote Liberal without her.
Ms Bishop resigned as federal speaker after a travel-entitlements scandal sparked by her $5000 taxpayer-funded helicopter flight from Melbourne to Geelong to attend a Liberal Party function.
Mr Smith has threatened to run as an independent in Ms Bishop's electorate - which is a Liberal stronghold - if she is preselected.
Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek said reports suggesting the former speaker wasn't popular in her own seat probably didn't come as a surprise to anyone.
"It doesn't matter whether it's Bronwyn Bishop or any other Liberal, it'll still be the same bad policies that the Liberal candidate for Mackellar will be advocating," she told reporters in Sydney.
The Liberal preselection ballot is scheduled for April 16.
Ms Bishop's main challengers will be Liberal staffer Jason Falinski, who has strong factional support, and Walter Villatora, who has letters of support from NSW Premier Mike Baird and former prime minister Tony Abbott.
