Rudd government minister Jason Clare says Labor may be behind in the opinion polls, but the election race is far from over.
"If this was the Melbourne Cup we'd be on the turn and not every horse that's in front at the turn wins," he told the Nine Network on Friday after a Newspoll showed Labor would lose Robertson and Dobell on the NSW Central Coast and a fall-off in support for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
The poll, taken last weekend and published on Friday in The Australian, found that on a two-party-preferred basis, Labor's support in the two seats is down seven points to 46 per cent and the Coalition's is up seven points to 54 per cent.
When voters were asked who would make the better prime minister, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was ahead on 47 per cent compared to Mr Rudd's 41 per cent. The national polling favours Mr Rudd 46 to 37 per cent.
Mr Clare said the most important day of the campaign would be the day the Liberal party released the costings for its policies.
"That's judgment day. That's when the people of Australia will get a really clear idea of what they'll get with Kevin Rudd and what they get with Tony Abbott."
And he said Mr Abbott's performance on the campaign trail would have an impact.
"He's made three big gaffes this week and if he makes more gaffes people will start to look at this bloke and says he's not prime ministerial material."
Labor's Deborah O'Neill holds Robertson for Labor with a very slim margin of 1.1 per cent, while now-independent Craig Thomson won Dobell for Labor at the 2010 election. He's standing again as an independent.
The Liberal party is expected to win both seats, which Mr Abbott visited on the first day of the election campaign.
