An extra $5 billion in cash handouts in the budget unveiled this week has failed to give Labor an electoral boost.
The latest Nielsen poll, published by Fairfax newspapers on Saturday, has Opposition Leader Tony Abbott gaining ground on Prime Minister Julia Gillard as preferred PM.
Of 1200 people polled, half said they would rather see Mr Abbott take the reins. Support for Ms Gillard as PM fell three points to 42 per cent.
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In the two-party preferred metric, the coalition was up one point to 58 per cent, and Labor slipped to 42 per cent.
Labor's primary vote would reach 28 per cent and the coalition's 49 per cent if an election were held now, according to the poll.
The poll, taken in the two days after Treasurer Wayne Swan unveiled his budget on Tuesday evening, found that 27 per cent believe they personally will be better off.
Another 43 per cent expect they will be worse off, and 22 per cent believe the budget will make no difference to them personally.
