IN stunningly quick time, Tony Abbott’s popularity has plummeted to the depths that saw Julia Gillard pack up and move out for Kevin Rudd’s return.

There isn’t a Rudd-like contender hunting Mr Abbott’s leadership, but his election triumph nine months ago hasn’t been followed by solid opinion poll rating, with 70 per cent of voters not satisfied with his performance.

He is considered the better option for Prime Minister by just 34 per cent of voters, according to a Newspoll published in The Australian today, with Labor’s Bill Shorten at 44 per cent.

A tick over 12 months ago, Ms Gillard lost the Prime Ministership when her preferred ratings fell to 33 per cent against, 45 per cent for then Opposition Leader Abbott. That’s when a majority of Labor MPs decided she was taking them to electoral disaster and had to be removed.

The Newspoll parallels are spooky, but there are differing circumstances at play.

The current Government is not dealing with leadership instability; certainly nothing like the bar-room brawl that afflicted Labor for much of its six years in power.

The Labor Opposition is chipping away at the Government, but Bill Shorten does not have a huge personal rating. Newspoll today showed 66 per cent of voters could not say they were satisfied with his performance as Opposition Leader, compared to 69 per cent for Mr Abbott in his role.

While Abbott’s leadership is not under threat, there is discontent both within his party and in the electorate. The Abbott government introduced a bludgeoning Budget with little forewarning of specific tough measures, and the hope within Liberal ranks that voters will soon accept the necessity of the pain is starting to droop.

It is as if Mr Abbott convinced himself of the need for tough provisions, and assumed the electorate would automatically follow, as it did for much of 2013 when he faced Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd.

However, it could be argued Mr Abbott has never been a favourite son of voters ever since he took the Liberal leadership in late 2009.

Even as Ms Gillard struggled with a seemingly never-ending opinion poll slump he could not get majority approval as preferred Prime Minister, or for his performance as Opposition Leader.

Labor would win the hypothetical election held by Newspoll, with 37 per cent of the primary vote to the Coalition’s 35 per cent.

The worry for Mr Abbott is that 28 per cent would give their first vote to the Greens or “other”, which includes Clive Palmer’s outfit, and that proportion has been steadily rising since the election.