Two polls show Australian Labor Party maintains lead

Australian Labor Party has maintained its lead over the Coalition in two new polls published on Monday.

Newspoll and Galaxy both have Labor ahead of the Coalition on a two-party preferred basis - 52 to 48 percent.

Newspoll said this compared to the start of the election campaign when Labor led 55-45.

Galaxy said Labor's primary vote remained unchanged since the election was called - on 38 percent - but is still well below the 43 percent primary vote achieved under former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's 2007 election win.

It said the coalition's primary vote fell three points to 41 percent, while The Greens picked up three percentage points to 15 percent.

Meanwhile, the Newspoll said the Coalition is gaining ground on Labor, with the Coalition's primary vote up four points to 42 percent and Labor dropping two percentage points to 40 percent.

The Newspoll also found voters have turned against Gillard, with her satisfaction rating down from 48 percent to 41 percent and the number of people dissatisfied with her performance up eight percentage points to 37 percent.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's approval rating has improved four points to 40 percent, while his dissatisfaction rating is down from 51 to 46 percent.

On the question of preferred prime minister, support for Gillard fell seven points to 50 percent, while Abbott's support rose seven points to 34 percent.

Both polls are published in Monday's News Ltd newspapers.

Gillard earlier this month called the general election date on August 21.

Source: Xinhua