More worrying still for the Prime Minister, almost a quarter – 22.2 per cent – of Coalition voters say they are less likely to support him, according to the national poll of 2543 people. The Liberal and Labor podiums. Illustration: Rocco Fazzari Six months to the day since he barely survived a leadership spill motion and declared "good government starts today", Mr Abbott is fast losing ground as preferred prime minister. Mr Shorten is preferred by 58.5 per cent of voters to Mr Abbott's 41.5, despite the Labor leader's recent Royal Commission appearance and the fireworks at ALP National Conference. Mr Shorten is more popular with men and women, and across all age groups except for 65 and over.

ReachTEL's last published poll, conducted less than a fortnight ago, had Mr Shorten on 55.1 per cent to Mr Abbott's 44.9 per cent. Illustration: Matt Golding The new poll conducted on Thursday – three weeks after the Bishop scandal first broke and five days after she announced her resignation – finds the two-party preferred vote unchanged with Labor still comfortably ahead 53 per cent to 47 per cent based on 2013 preference flows. But it's not all good news for Mr Shorten: he still ranks third in terms of preferred Labor leader. His former leadership rival Anthony Albanese is favoured by 40.1 per cent of the electorate, deputy leader Tanya Plibersek is favoured by 34.9 per cent and Mr Shorten 25 per cent.

Likewise, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop rank well above Mr Abbott as preferred Liberal leader. Mr Turnbull is a clear favourite with 45.4 per cent of voters, Ms Bishop is favoured by 24.4 per cent and Mr Abbott stands on 18.9 per cent. Only Social Services Minister Scott Morrison ranked lower than Mr Abbott in this category, on 11.4 per cent. However both Mr Shorten and Mr Abbott remain the favourite leader among the rusted on voters of their respective sides. The results could add momentum to fresh leadership rumbles that have emerged as a result of Mr Abbott's handling of the Bishop saga. A number of Mr Abbott's colleagues believe he should have moved much sooner to remove Mrs Bishop, saving the government weeks of pain.

Mrs Bishop came under fire for charging taxpayers to charter a $5000 chopper to travel the short distance from Melbourne to Geelong. The revelation unleashed a flood of stories about her profligate spending on the public purse and a renewed focus on all parliamentary entitlements. ReachTEL also asked people whether they supported the Productivity Commission's draft recommendation that Sunday penalty rates should be cut to Saturday rates in hospitality and non-essential services. More than half – 53.2 per cent – oppose the idea while 33.3 per cent support it and 13.4 per cent are undecided. But well over half of Coalition voters – 57.8 per cent – support the idea. Mr Abbott has distanced himself from the proposal.

The poll's margin of error is 1.9 per cent.