The online Omnipoll survey taken for Sky News found 46 per cent of respondents said "fixing the budget" should be the government's first priority - especially among Coalition supporters. Treasurer Scott Morrison is under pressure to tax on multinational tax avoidance. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Even among Labor voters, 36 per cent favoured budget repair, compared to 34 per cent who want more spending on education. Only 3 per cent of voters said company tax cuts should be the government's first priority - a sentiment that was consistent on both sides of the political spectrum and across all age groups and income brackets.

OmniPoll co-founder Martin O'Shannessy, a former director of the influential Newspoll, told Sky News balancing the budget was "becoming a proxy" for voters' concerns about the economy. "Even among Labor voters this concern for the budget balance and the economy is equally important with education, and normally education is way out there," he said. Illustration: Ron Tandberg The online poll of 1146 voters across Australia was taken last weekend, before Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull set down his double dissolution election threat to the Senate crossbenchers. It is the first major survey by OmniPoll, established by former Newspoll managers including Mr O'Shannessy. The poll also reinforced perceptions that Mr Turnbull's honeymoon has come to an end, with 62 per cent of respondents saying the PM had not lived up to their expectations. But that was chiefly driven by Labor voters, with six in 10 Coalition supporters expressing confidence in Mr Turnbull's leadership.

"We're at that stage where the honeymoon should be over," Mr O'Shannessy said. "He's had six months of fantastic ratings and we've just seen him starting to drop off." But the results are a public indictment on the government's plans for an election-year budget in which companies would enjoy a tax cut but workers would not. Cabinet Secretary Arthur Sinodinos last weekend explained the "good effects" of cutting company tax, arguing it would encourage investment and greater productivity. "At least 50 per cent of the impact of cutting company taxes goes in higher wages for workers. And higher employment," he told the ABC's Insiders program.