Support for independent parties at record high ahead of Australian election: poll

A record one in four Australians are planning to shun the two major political parties at the July 2 federal election, the latest Newspoll revealed on Monday.

The coalition government and the Labor opposition are currently supported at 50 percent each in the "two-party-preferred" category, but for the first time in the Newspoll survey's history, the minor parties and independents are making up one quarter of the preferences in the primary vote category.

Support for the minor parties jumped three points to 15 percent over the past fortnight, while support for the Greens - the third largest political party in Australia - fell on point to 10 percent.

The bad news for the government continued, as the poll showed the coalition's primary vote percentage dropped to 40 percent, the lowest it has been since Malcolm Turnbull took over the prime ministership from Tony Abbott in September last year.

In recent week, the prime minister has begun to urge the Australian public not to vote for smaller, independent parties as it would lead to "chaotic unstable alliances" in Parliament in order to have a majority to form a government.

The survey of 1,867 voters also showed that dissatisfaction with the prime minister grew to an all-time high of 51 percent while the satisfaction rating came in at 37 percent, one point lower.

Despite the poor polling results for Turnbull, opposition leader Bill Shorten also suffered in the satisfaction stakes; his satisfaction fell four points to 33 percent, while dissatisfaction rose three points to 2 percent.

Shorten is still far behind Turnbull as preferred prime minister; Turnbull has 45 percent of the vote while Shorten is preferred by 30 percent of the voting public. One in four voters is undecided.

Australians head to the polls for the federal election on July 2 this year. Endit