A recent poll suggests most Australians think Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is ‘doing a bad job’ addressing the issue of asylum seekers. Photo / AP

A recent poll suggests most Australians think Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is ‘doing a bad job’ addressing the issue of asylum seekers. Photo / AP

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is "too soft" and "doing a bad job" addressing the issue of asylum seekers the latest Newspoll shows.

Polls also show his approval rating has dropped.

More than half of voters, or 53 percent, think Mr Rudd is doing poorly on managing asylum seekers while just 31 percent think he is handling the issue well, the Newspoll published in The Australian reveals.

The results coincide with voter views on how the federal government has confronted the issue of more boats attempting the journey from Indonesia to Australia.

A total of 46 percent of people polled believe the commonwealth has been "too soft" on the issue, while only 16 percent believe the government has gone "too hard".

In the latest Herald/Nielsen poll, Mr Rudd's approval rating slipped three points to 68 percent, with approval for Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull climbing to two points to 37 per cent.

On who voters prefer as prime minister, Mr Rudd's approval rating dropped one point to 68 percent.

Mr Turnbull rose by the same amount to 24 percent.

- AAP