By chief political correspondent Simon Cullen
Photo: Julia Gillard has opened a 10-point lead over Tony Abbott in the latest Age-Nielsen poll. (AAP: Lukas Coch)
Julia Gillard has extended her lead over Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister in the first major opinion poll since she accused her opponent of sexism and misogyny, although Labor would still lose an election if it was held now.
Her blistering parliamentary attack on the Opposition Leader appears to have resonated with a significant number of voters, with 42 per cent of people saying they believe Mr Abbott is sexist compared with just 17 per cent of respondents who think the same could be said about Ms Gillard.
The Nielsen poll published in Fairfax newspapers shows Ms Gillard now has a 10-point lead over Mr Abbott on the question of who voters would prefer as prime minister, taking her to 50 per cent compared with the Opposition Leader on 40 per cent.
It is Ms Gillard's largest lead over Mr Abbott in a Nielsen poll this year.
Overall, the results show the Coalition still has an election-winning lead after preferences, but the margin has been narrowing over the past few months and now sits at 52 - 48 in the Opposition's favour.
In June, just before the carbon tax took effect, the margin between the two parties after preferences was 16 points in the Coalition's favour.
"It's a trend that's been evidenced since the 1st of July where upon on that day the sky did not fall in (and) Whyalla's still there," Labor frontbencher Craig Emerson told ABC Radio National.
"The carbon scare campaign has fallen to the ground."
But Liberal backbencher Paul Fletcher has rejected that idea that the Coalition's campaign against the carbon tax has failed.
"I don't think you can draw any of those kinds of conclusions from the inherent variabilities in the polls," Mr Fletcher told Sky News.
Over the past few months, there has also been a gradual improvement in the Prime Minister's satisfaction ratings.
In June, 60 per cent of voters disapproved of Ms Gillard's performance, while only 35 per cent approved. In the latest poll, 48 per cent of voters disapprove while 47 per cent approve.
Conversely, there has been a deterioration in Mr Abbott's satisfaction rating. Today's poll shows 60 per cent of voters disapprove of his performance, while just 37 per cent approve.
Labor's primary vote remained unchanged at 34 per cent, but the Coalition dropped two points to 43 per cent.
The Greens have been largely consistent over the past few months around the 11 per cent mark. The result is in contrast to the weekend election results in the ACT where the minor party suffered a 4.6 per cent swing against them.
