Victorian Premier John Brumby has blamed Labor's dismal performance in the latest opinion poll on the damage to the Labor brand under former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
The Newspoll, taken before Julia Gillard became Prime Minister, shows the Victorian Labor government primary vote has slipped to 34 per cent, down from 41 per cent at the end of last year.
It is the worst result for the Labor government since the Kirner years in 1992.
Mr Brumby said issues within the party at a federal level had affected the result but would not say whether he expected his government's popularity to improve under Ms Gillard.
"We've had some issues over the last month or two, they've been issues across Australia and they have affected the Labor brand and I think you're seeing that reflected (in the poll)," he told reporters.
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Pleased for Julia
"I was very pleased obviously for Julia to be elected, I've known her for a long time and I was delighted obviously that we would have a Victorian as a Prime Minister, but again I'll leave any commentary about the impact of that on the polls or on Labor's fortunes generally to the analysts and commentators."
The polls still have Mr Brumby ahead as preferred premier 47-31 against Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu.
Labor leads the two-party preferred vote 51-49.
The coalition's primary support has dipped two points since April to 36 per cent.
NSW poll
Just yesterday, a Newspoll in New South Wales also showed poor results for Labor.
It found Labor's primary vote had fallen to a record low of 25 per cent in May-June, from 31 per cent in March-April.
It also showed support for the Liberal-Nationals coalition rose to 46 per cent, from 42 per cent, which was best level since 2004.
