The latest Newspoll shows Labor is in for a tough election contest but it's united behind Kevin Rudd and up for the fight, Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says.
The Newspoll results published in The Australian suggest support for Labor since Mr Rudd's revived leadership may be flagging.
The party's primary vote has slipped from 38 to 37 per cent while the two-party preferred number has shifted from 50-50 to 52-48 in favour of the coalition.
Ms Plibersek says Labor is ready to fight.
"Certainly this shows there's a tough contest ahead of us," she told ABC TV on Tuesday.
"Kevin Rudd's a very good campaigner and I think he certainly is working every minute of every day to say that he has a positive vision for the future.
"Both the prime minister and all of us will be campaigning very hard every day to remind people of what we've achieved and what we're set to lose if there's a change of government.
"It's a very united team."
Fellow frontbencher Brendan O'Connor says the election is now "contestable" for Labor.
And there's better news for the government in the west, with internal polling by ALP pollster UMR obtained by The West Australian newspaper showing a double-digit turnaround.
The UMR poll of 350 people in the seat of Hasluck, held by Liberal Ken Wyatt, put the two party-preferred vote at 50-50 which would give Labor a chance of winning the seat.
In May, under Julia Gillard, the same pollster had the Liberals ahead 61-39 in the seat.
Reflecting on the Newspoll results, former Labor leader Mark Latham said Mr Rudd was never going to enjoy a "long, booming honeymoon".
"There's a reality that goes against him where the public remembers the last three or four years of Labor where some of those memories are quite sour," he told the Seven Network.
The Newspoll also shows a lift in support for Labor's approach to asylum seekers in the wake of Mr Rudd's hardline PNG announcement last week.
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