It would be unfair if voters rejected NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian simply because the federal Liberal Party is tearing itself apart. With a few exceptions, she has managed to quarantine NSW state politics from the factional brawling between left and right that have turned federal parliament into a circus.

Yet politics is not always fair and the bad result in the latest Herald UComms/ReachTel poll will leave Ms Berejiklian in no doubt that she could pay the price of her federal colleagues' stupidity. The poll of 1500 voters found that the ALP leads the Coalition 51 to 49 on a two-party preferred basis.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Credit:AAP

Certainly Ms Berejiklian can blame the bad result on contagion from the hatred that has gnawed at the bowels of the federal Coalition since prime minister Malcolm Turnbull was overthrown in a coup in September. Half the electorate told the survey that federal politics will affect how they cast their vote in the state election.

Unfortunately for Ms Berejiklian the split between state and federal politics in voters' minds will be more than usually blurry in the next few months because the NSW and federal elections will almost run in parallel.