CANBERRA, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Support for Australia's governing Liberal-National party (LNP) coalition has fallen to its lowest level since 2008 following Scott Morrison's ascent to prime minister.
Morrison was sworn in as Australia's new prime minister on Friday night after a majority of the Liberal Party's 85 Members of Parliament (MPs) chose him to succeed Malcolm Turnbull.
The new prime minister faces an uphill battle to revive the LNP's support among voters with a federal election looming after the latest Newspoll, published on Sunday night, revealed the party's primary vote dropped in the wake of the leadership crisis to 33 percent, its worst result since 2008.
Support for the Opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) rose 6 percent to 41 percent, its highest since 2015 Newspoll results, which prompted Turnbull to challenge former prime minister Tony Abbott for the leadership.
The ALP led the LNP 56-44 on a two-party preferred basis compared to 51-49 when Turnbull was the prime minister earlier in August.
If those numbers were upheld at the federal election, which is expected to be held in May 2019, the ALP would win in an overwhelming landslide, winning as many as 90 of 150 seats in the House of Representatives compared to 55 for the LNP.
In the first head-to-head contest between Morrison and ALP leader Bill Shorten, Shorten emerged the more popular leader, overcoming a 12-point deficit to Turnbull in a poll on the preferred prime minister to lead Morrison by six points.
It marks the first time since February 2015 that Shorten has been the preferred choice for the prime minister over the incumbent.
However, the poll found that the LNP would perform better if Julie Bishop, who served as deputy leader of the Liberal Party for 11 years, had won the leadership ballot.
Bishop was eliminated in the first round of voting having received the fewest votes and on Sunday announced her resignation as the minister for foreign affairs.
According to Newspoll, 29 percent of voters believe Bishop would be the best leader of the Liberal Party compared to 25 percent for Morrison and 14 percent for Turnbull.
Only 6 percent chose Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who was defeated by Morrison on Friday as the best leadership candidate.
