The latest News Ltd Newspoll shows Ms Gillard is failing to win over the electorate after 12 months in the job with only one in three voters satisfied with her performance and more than half dissatisfied.
News Ltd papers says personal support for Ms Gillard is now similar to that of former Labor prime minister Paul Keating before he lost the 1996 election and that of former Liberal prime minister John Howard in 1998 after he announced he would introduce a GST.
Mr Abbott, whose satisfaction level with voters slipped from 37 per cent two weeks ago to 35 per cent, is now within three points of Ms Gillard as preferred prime minister.
Dissatisfied voters remained almost unchanged at 52 per cent for Mr Abbott.
Voters turned off Ms Gillard when asked who would make the better prime minister, her support falling from 44 per cent to 41 per cent to Mr Abbott's 38 per cent, up one per cent from the previous Newspoll.
Ms Gillard's approval rating is lower than Kevin Rudd's when she replaced him a year ago.
According to the survey, conducted last weekend, Labor's primary voted has dropped back to its second-lowest on record at 31 per cent while the coalition's rose two points to 46 per cent.
News Ltd said that based on preference flows at the August 2010 election, the coalition widened its two-party preferred lead in the past two weeks from four points to 10 - 55 per cent to Labor's 45 per cent.
