Australia's Liberals and Labor tied in pre-election polls

1.00pm

CANBERRA - Australian Prime Minister John Howard's governing Liberals and the Labor opposition are neck-and-neck in two opinion polls released on Tuesday, one month before the federal election.

Both the Newspoll and ACNielsen surveys have the Liberal/National coalition and Mark Latham's Labor party tied with 50 per cent support each on the important two-party preferred vote, when minority party voters are distributed to major parties and ultimately decide an election.

However, on a primary vote basis, or the first count of votes, Howard's coalition government has a substantial lead with 46 per cent support in the ACNielsen poll and 45 per cent support in the Newspoll over Labor's 40 per cent recorded in both polls.

"The poll vindicates Mr Howard's risky decision to call the election when the coalition was lagging behind Labor and suggests he outperformed Mark Latham in the first week of the campaign," the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper said.

The Australian economy, one of the industrialised world's strongest, remains the biggest issue in the early days of a six-week campaign, along with the government's support for the US-led Iraq war and the credibility of political leaders.

Television straw polls consistently show about two-thirds of Australians identify the economy as the issue that will decide how they vote and the news has been good with gross domestic product up 4.1 per cent in the year through the second quarter.

Howard, 65, whose government is seeking a fourth consecutive term in office, remains the nation's preferred prime minister with an 11 point lead over Latham in the ACNielsen poll and a 12 point lead in the Newspoll.

Both opinion polls were carried out last weekend with The Newspoll, published in The Australian newspaper, surveying 1734 people, while the ACNielsen poll, published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, surveyed 1415 people.

- REUTERS