Julia Gillard has overtaken Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister for the first time in nine months in the latest Nielsen poll.

In the survey of 1,400 voters Ms Gillard's rating jumped six points to 48 per cent, while Mr Abbott's remained unchanged at 46 per cent.

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But 57 per cent of those surveyed preferred Kevin Rudd to Ms Gillard, who was backed by 35 per cent.

The Coalition leads Labor 45 per cent to 33 per cent on the primary vote, but the gap is shrinking.

Labor's primary vote climbed four points to its highest level in almost a year while the Coalition's dropped four points.

Labor's two-party vote improved by four points to 47 per cent, while the Coalition's dropped four points to 53 per cent.

The poll is published in today's Fairfax newspapers.

It comes one day after Ms Gillard gathered Labor MPs at The Lodge for the year's first caucus meeting.

She told MPs to show more discipline and warned that leaking internal matters to journalists was only helping the Opposition.

Kevin Rudd, the focus of speculation about a possible change in the Labor leadership, was one of 23 MPs who missed the meeting.

According to a caucus spokesman, his name was not mentioned.

Caucus meets again today, and this time Mr Rudd will be in attendance as parliament resumes after the summer break.