Victoria's Napthine government lags behind Labor on a two-party vote according to the latest poll.
The coalition trails Labor 47 per cent to 53 per cent on a two-party basis, according to the Age/Nielsen poll published by Fairfax newspapers on Saturday.
The poll comes nine months before the November 29 state election and follows a string of bad news, including thousands of local jobs lost as Alcoa, Toyota and Ford close their doors in Victoria.
But the survey of 1000 voters taken during the past week shows more than half of those polled (51 per cent) approve of Premier Denis Napthine's performance compared with Labor Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews, 41 per cent.
Dr Napthine was also rated preferred premier, 45 per cent, compared with Mr Andrews, 35 per cent.
Voters ranked health and hospitals as the number one issue, followed by jobs, education, financial management and public transport.
They believed the best party for creating jobs was Labor, at 44 per cent, compared with the coalition, 36 per cent.
Meanwhile 55 per cent of voters disapproved of the state government's response to manufacturing job losses.
