Aussie voters undecided, hung parliament looms after federal election: poll

The 2016 Australian federal election is heading for a hung parliament, which would leave neither the current coalition government or the Labor opposition with a majority in the house, the latest Newspoll gauging voter preferences showed on Monday.

Both parties are currently locked at 50 percent apiece in the two-party-preferred vote, just two weeks out from the July 2 federal election.

The Newspoll showed support for both the government and the Labor opposition jumped by one point (to 41 percent and 36 percent respectively) in the primary vote over the past fortnight, but according to experts, the margin is still considered too little to avoid a hung parliament.

A hung parliament occurs when no single party holds a majority to form a parliament, requiring voter preferences to be funnelled to one of the major parties so that a majority can be formed.

The government's primary vote of 41 percent has remained the same for five of the past six Newspolls, while the Labor figure of 36 percent has been steady for four of the last six. Support for independent parties dropped from a record high of 15 percent two weeks ago to 13 percent on Monday.

With current preferences taken into account, the Newspoll showed the coalition and Labor were deadlocked at 50 percent -- a 3.5 percent swing to Labor since the last election.

Alarmingly for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, his voter satisfaction dropped to an equal record low of 36 points, down from a high of 60 percent after he took over the position in September 2015.

Despite the dissatisfaction with the prime minister, Turnbull is still the voters' preferred prime minister over Labor leader Bill Shorten. Turnbull has 46 percent of that vote to Shorten's 31, though trends since November has shown Shorten closing the gap.

Australian voters head to the polls on July 2. Endit