The latest opinion polls show Labor's bid to retain government is in trouble, with key party figures trailing in their seats.

According to ReachTEL polling in The Sydney Morning Herald, Treasurer Chris Bowen is behind 53 to 47 per cent on a two-party preferred basis in his seat of McMahon, based in Sydney's outer western suburbs.

Responding to questions about the poll this morning, Mr Bowen said the election campaign is only halfway through.

"I have never in nine years in parliament taken my seat for granted. I will be fighting for every last vote, earning every last vote," he said.

In the seat of Bennelong, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd recruited Jason Yat-sen Li to challenge Liberal John Alexander - but polling shows Mr Alexander is ahead 65 to 35 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

The poll also has Labor well behind in its eastern Sydney seat of Kingsford Smith, which has been vacated by Peter Garrett.

His Labor replacement, Matt Thistlethwhaite, is behind by 48 to 52 per cent.

The ReachTEL poll was conducted on August 15 and sampled more than 600 residents in each seat.

Beattie facing tough fight for Forde

Elsewhere, a JWS Research poll in the Financial Review shows that two weeks into the election campaign the ALP is trailing in some of the key seats it was targeting.

The poll shows star candidate Peter Beattie's bid to win Forde appears doomed, with the LNP's Bert van Manen well ahead.

I am facing the toughest fight of my political life with an AFR poll showing a thrashing in Forde. I am a fighter and will never give up. — Peter Beattie (@SmartState1) August 16, 2013

Labor is also behind in the race for the LNP-held seat of Brisbane and Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury also looks likely to lose the marginal western Sydney seat of Lindsay.

The poll sampled a total of 4,739 people across eight seats on August 15 and the margin of error was 4.2 per cent.

To hold government Labor needs to win seats because the Coalition is set to pick-up the seats of Lyne and New England, where the independents are retiring.