One in five back Turnbull as Liberal boss

Malcolm Turnbull has the edge over his Liberal leadership rivals but only 20 per cent of voters say he's best-placed to head the party.

Support for Malcolm Turnbull as the best person to lead the Liberal party has halved since he came to power.

The latest Essential poll found 20 per cent of voters considered Mr Turnbull to be the best person to lead the Liberals.

But this was down from 42 per cent in December 2015 after he seized the leadership from Tony Abbott, the poll published on Tuesday showed.

However, Mr Turnbull was still ahead of his rivals with Julie Bishop favoured by 17 per cent, Mr Abbott on 10 per cent, Scott Morrison, Christopher Pyne and Peter Dutton on two per cent, "someone else" with 18 per cent and "don't know" with 28 per cent.

Among coalition voters, Mr Turnbull was favoured by 36 per cent of respondents, followed by Ms Bishop on 19 per cent and Mr Abbott on 15 per cent.

Among female voters, Ms Bishop and Mr Turnbull were equally favoured at 19 per cent.

Over the same period, Bill Shorten's standing as preferred Labor leader lifted eight points to 21 per cent, although 35 per cent of voters did submit a "don't know".