Aussie PM's popularity takes another dive in latest opinion poll

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's net public approval rating has fallen to zero, the latest Fairfax-Ipsos poll has shown.

Published in Fairfax Media newspapers on Monday, the survey of more than 1,400 people also showed the coalition government was two points behind the Labor opposition in the two-party preferred (after preferences) vote.

Labor holds a 51 percent to 49 percent lead over the coalition, something which Fairfax Media said would be enough to force a change of the government, had an election been held at the weekend.

The Turnbull government's demise in popularity was further highlighted by the fact that the PM's approval rating had fallen eight points since the July election, and an overall 53 points over the last 12 months.

The Fairfax-Ipsos poll showed that Turnbull's rating across a number of key areas had also taken a tumble. The prime minister's rating as a "strong leader" had dropped 9 percent, his "ability to make things happen" had fallen 7 points, while he suffered a six point drop in being "open to ideas".

Despite the poor result, the Australian public still firmly believes that Turnbull makes a better prime minister compared to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. Turnbull has 51 percent of the public's backing to Shorten's 30 percent, while 19 percent of those polled were undecided.

The poor results come amidst the final sitting week of Parliament. The government is hoping to push a number of key bills through both the Lower House and the Senate before Parliament takes its Christmas break from Thursday. Endit