All figures are percentages. Poll of 1400 respondents conducted nationwide on May 15-17. Maximum margin of sampling error is +/- 2.6%. Uncommitted voters (4%) were redistributed. Percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding A harsh verdict on the Coalition's first budget has propelled the ALP to a massive 12 percentage-point lead at 56/44 (based on preference flows at the last election), according to the monthly Age/Nielsen nationwide phone poll taken from Thursday to Saturday last week. It has also catapulted Labor leader Bill Shorten to an 11-point advantage as preferred prime minister (51 per cent to 40) – his first lead of any kind over Mr Abbott. The Prime Minister, by contrast, has suffered an unprecedented collapse in personal standing. His net approval rating – those who approve of his performance minus those who do not – dropped by 21 points to minus 28, close to the minus 30 rating of Julia Gillard at her lowest ebb as prime minister. Mr Shorten, by comparison, has surged into positive territory on 8 per cent.

"Mr Abbott trails the Opposition Leader as preferred prime minister after just eight months in office, faster than any of his predecessors with the exception of Paul Keating who started out behind," said pollster John Stirton. The figures came as Labor moved on Sunday to capitalise on the resentment by airing prime-time television advertisements branding Mr Abbott a liar who was hurting those who could least afford it. Mr Abbott claimed on Sunday that he had let voters know what was coming if they elected him. ''You might remember the mantra - it was stop the boats, repeal the carbon tax, build the roads of the 21st century, and get the budget back under control,'' he told the ABC's Insiders program. ''So people, I think, were on notice that we were going to do what was necessary to ensure that we were not being a burden on our children and grandchildren.''

Concerns over broken promises and a lack of fairness have been vindicated by an independent analysis of the impact of budget decisions by the Australian National University, which found high income earners can largely escape the so-called "heavy lifting" of fiscal repair, with some well-paid couples worse off by just 0.9 per cent compared with a single parent on payments with a child aged six, who could lose more than 10 per cent of her income. Voters agree, with nearly two-thirds calling the changes unfair. More tellingly, 53 per cent said the budget would not be good for Australia - the first time in the history of this long-running poll series that the budget is regarded as actually bad for the country. The chilling poll result threatens to elevate Coalition tensions from anger to outright panic after some MPs spoke out publicly and many more warned privately that destroying voter trust would haunt the Abbott government. Despite being hounded from office less than a year ago after two terms of bickering and policy chaos, Labor's support from voters has rebounded on the back of the Coalition slump.

A 9.5 per cent swing to Labor would have seen the Abbott government bundled out, with Labor recording its highest support since August 2010. Labor's primary support now sits at 40 - up 6 points - while the Coalition languishes at 35 - down a statistically significant 5 points. Mr Abbott's personal descent suggest voters feel aggrieved by the decisions to impose new and increased taxes while also freezing indexation of pensions and benefits, increasing the retirement age, and bringing in new up-front charges for GP visits. Mr Abbott's negative rating rivals his lowest ever. At minus 28 per cent, it is almost identical to the minus-29 reading he recorded in December 2012. The only plus for the government is that half of all respondents (49 per cent) said the budget was economically responsible.