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Voters want Coalition to stick with Turnbull, new poll shows

Australians have little appetite to see Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull toppled, according to a new poll.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is still preferred prime minister. Source: AAP

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The Coalition is making ground on Labor, according to a new poll, which also suggests Australians have little appetite to see Malcolm Turnbull ousted as prime minister.

The Fairfax-Ipsos poll, published on Saturday, shows 62 per cent of those polled do not want a change in prime minister.

Mr Turnbull has increased his approval rating by five points to 45 per cent since December, while Opposition Leader Bill Shorten remained at 38 per cent.

Just 21 per cent of Liberal and National voters want to see Mr Turnbull toppled, according to the poll.

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The poll comes as questions about Mr Tuirnbull's leadership gain momentum with his Coalition facing possibly the 30th straight loss in a major poll on Monday.

Losing 30 Newspolls would be a symbolic blow for Mr Turnbull since he used that benchmark to justify ousting former leader Tony Abbott in 2015. The next Newspoll is out on April 8.

Three sitting Australian prime ministers have been ousted by their own parties since 2010, dumped by their colleagues almost as soon as their popularity began to wane.

Senior Liberal party officials have called for Turnbull to remain leader regardless of Monday’s Newspoll.

Former Liberal prime minister John Howard this week warned against toppling Turnbull, saying the Liberal heartland would be “very angry” if the party changed leader again.

The Coalition made up one point on Labor in the two-party-preferred standings in the latest poll, now only trailing by two at 48-52, based on how preferences flowed at the last election.

However, when those polled were asked how they would allocate their preferences now, the parties were tied at 50 per cent.

The Coalition increased its primary vote by two points to 36 per cent, while Labor lost ground by one point to 34 per cent.

The poll of almost 1200 voters, taken from Tuesday to Thursday, showed 49 per cent of voters backed the government's planned company tax cuts, while 40 per cent were opposed.


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