Oz Labour Party edges ahead of opposition coalition, Gillard outpacing Abbott: Poll

Canberra, Aug 9 (ANI): Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's Labour party has taken a four-point lead, 52-48 per cent, over the coalition, and Gillard herself is out pacing the conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott by 49-34 percent, according to the latest Newspoll and Galaxy poll.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Labor party's four-point lead is up from a split 50-50 result last week. The Galaxy poll also shows Labor with a similar lead - 51 to 49 per cent.

Abbott lags well behind Gillard with 49 percent saying that they prefer the latter as Prime Minister.

The polls were taken at the end of another distracting week for Labor but mostly before the Coalition's campaign launch yesterday.

However, Abbott seems to be pretty confident about his party's performance and said that the coalition saw itself as the underdog against a first-term government.

"What it shows is the electorate is, I suppose, a bit volatile," he added.

However, Newspoll boss Martin O'Shannessy cautioned against reading too much into the latest result, describing the shift to Labor as a "very minor change" and not statistically different from the previous week's poll.

"This is like a nil-all draw, with Labor being slightly ahead on penalties," he added. (ANI)