The Liberal and National parties would win an election held now with a two-party preferred swing of around 7%, according to the latest Nielsen Poll. Mr Abbott has an eight point lead over Ms Gillard as preferred Prime Minister. Ms Gillard is on 42% (down 1) and Mr Abbott is on 50% (up 1). Among the key findings, the Nielsen Poll reveals:

• The biggest single gain on leadership attributes was made by Tony Abbott on “has the confidence of his party” which was up 12 points;
• The biggest single fall was by Julia Gillard on “has the confidence of her party” which was down 19 points after falling 16 points from 2010-2012;
• The Government’s National Broadband Network (NBN) is better known and more popular than the Opposition’s plans;
• A majority of Australians oppose taxing superannuation accounts holding two million dollars or more; and; and
• Over two thirds of voters (69%) say they know ‘a lot’ or ‘a little’ about Julian Assange and Wikileaks, and of these 19% would consider voting for the Wikileaks party.