It looks like a Rudd-bath - poll says Labor is facing its worst primary vote since 1934
TONY Abbott is set tomorrow to repeat the 1996 election landslide that swept Paul Keating from office and ushered in 11 years of conservative rule.
The final election-eve Galaxy Poll commissioned by The Daily Telegraph has revealed that Kevin Rudd has failed to make any headway in the final week of the campaign with Labor now stuck well behind the Coalition on a 47/53 two party preferred basis.
It also revealed a primary vote unchanged from last week of just 35 per cent, which if repeated in tomorrow's poll would be the worst primary vote result for Labor since 1934.
The grim news for Labor came as the Coalition announced as its final election promise, an unprecedented infrastructure rollout using $4.5 billion of redirected funds from the Foreign Aid budget
The latest poll of 1503 voters across the country has confirmed that the traditional tightening in the polls as the election looms has failed to materialise for Labor with the risk that it could blow out even further in the next 24 hours.
The result is unchanged since the last poll was taken between August 28/29.
Despite a promise to be a different Prime Minister, Mr Rudd has failed to convince voters he has changed from the dysfunctional and chaotic style of governing he was accused of by his colleagues during his first term.
The number of people who believe little has changed has blown out from 43 per cent whenhe was returned to the leadership to 58 per cent over the latest polling period of September 2-4.
The results clearly show Mr Rudd's campaign has tanked and taken Labor back further than it was at the start, when it went into the contest on a 50/50 per cent basis with the Coalition.
Mr Rudd had also failed to convince voters that Labor deserved to be re-elected, with 44 per cent claiming the party deserved to lose the election, compared to only 28 per cent who believed it deserved to win.
Mr Abbott was regarded as having won the campaign by more voters, 43 per cent, compared to 36 per cent for Mr Rudd.
The Coaltion also was judged as better economic managers 47/34.
The 3.1 per cent swing on a two party preferred basis, if uniform across the country, would result in the loss of at least 10 seats for Labor.
However, with swings of up to eight per cent in some Sydney marginal seats, the expected result could see the Coalition win as many as 20 to 25 seats.
Such a result could reduce Labor to similar results of 1996, when it was left with 49 seats in the house of representatives, despite a smaller overall swing.
The final Newspoll taken in the days before the 1996 election had the two party preferred vote at 53.5 per cent for the Coalition to 46.5 per cent.
This blew out slightly to an election result day of 53.7 to 46.3 per cent and the loss of 31 seats for Labor on a swing of five per cent.
With victory now almost certain to be delivered to the Coalition, Mr Abbott, the man many said was un-electable, issued an appeal not to lodge a protest vote in the Senate, and allow him to fulfil a Coalition mandate in government.
"Kevin Rudd has been unable to turn around Labor's fortunes in the last week of the campaign and the government faces defeat at the ballot box on Saturday," Galaxy CEO David Briggs said.
"If this result is observed at the ballot box on a uniform basis on Saturday, this would result in the Coalition picking up 10 Labor held seats.
However, individual seat polling by Galaxy suggests that larger swings may be experienced in Western Sydney and some other key electorates. This could increase the Labor losses to more than 10.
"Tony Abbott's measured performance in the campaign and the Coalition's economic management credentials have thwarted the government's attempts to close the gap.
"It has also not helped Labor's cause that an increasing number of voters do not believe that Kevin Rudd has really changed from the chaotic prime ministerial style that brought about his downfall first time around."
