Voter unrest over Scott Morrison's government is still looking for a home, with well over a third of Australians eyeing off independents and minor parties.
The prime minister is weighing up a federal election expected in mid-May following the brought-forward March 29 budget.
A new poll taken in mid-January found 37.2 per cent primary support among voters for parties other than Labor, the Nationals and Liberals.
Labor held a clear lead on 40.1 per cent of the primary vote to the coalition's 22.7 per cent in the KORE Poll which had an online sample of 5557.
Such a result replicated at an election would see Labor win a comfortable majority of seats.
Among the non-major parties, voters preferred independents (13.8 per cent), the Greens (9.1 per cent), Pauline Hanson's One Nation (five per cent), and other minor parties (3.5 per cent) while 5.8 per cent were undecided.
Asked about their approval of Mr Morrison as prime minister, 67.5 per cent strongly disapproved, while seven per cent disapproved and the remainder approved or were neutral.
Anthony Albanese's ratings as opposition leader split various ways: strongly approve (20.6 per cent), approve (31.2 per cent), neither approve nor disapprove (19.1 per cent), disapprove (10.9 per cent) and strongly disapprove (18.2 per cent).
Asked about the way the COVID-19 pandemic had been managed in Australia, 59.1 per cent strongly disapproved, while 16.1 per cent disapproved and the remainder were neutral or positive.
The mismanagement of COVID-19 test kit availability was largely blamed on the federal government, with 66 per cent laying it at Mr Morrison's feet and 16 per cent on a combination of governments and companies.
Researcher RK Crosby told AAP there was deep concern about the federal government's handling of the pandemic.
But she said voters were not necessarily swayed by Labor and some could swing back to the coalition closer to the election.
The full results of the research are set to be published on Sunday on the website www.korecsr.com
Australian Associated Press
