Opposition leader Sussan Ley has taken another big polling hit, as defence spokesman Angus Taylor scrambles to get the numbers for a tilt at her position.

With Liberals arriving in Canberra for the parliamentary sitting beginning Tuesday, the Australian Financial Review’s Redbridge/Accent Research poll found^[1] the combined vote of the (now split) Liberals and Nationals down to a parlous 19%, a fall of 7 points since December.

The poll shows One Nation and Pauline Hanson surging ahead of the vote of the fractured Liberals and Nationals. One Nation is now on 26%, up 9 points, and Pauline Hanson has a much better net favourability rating than Ley.

Ley’s net favourability is minus 32, a worsening of 12 points. Hanson’s net favourability has improved from minus 19 to minus 3.

Ley rates 9% as preferred prime minister (down 3), with Anthony Albanese on 37% (down 4).

Labor’s primary vote is down a point to 34%; the Greens are down 2 points to 11%. Labor’s two-party lead is 56-44%.

The poll was taken between the day the Coalition split and Thursday, the day of the widely-publicised meeting of right-wing heavyweights to talk about whether Taylor or Andrew Hastie should be the one to challenge Ley.

With Hastie declaring on Friday he would not run for leader, the way was cleared for Taylor as the sole conservative candidate, but he has to gather more solid numbers.

In a bid to appeal to Hastie supporters, Taylor has posted on social media that Hastie is “a patriot committed to tackling the big problems our country faces” and said he shared many of his views.

References

1. ^{^} poll found (www.afr.com)
2. ^{^} Angus Taylor's Facebook page (www.facebook.com)