Howard support drops

Support for Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his Liberal-National coalition has fallen in key seats over recent months, but the Government still holds enough of a lead to win an election, Newspoll has found.

The decline in the Government's popularity since July has coincided with sustained criticism that Howard misled the nation about the reasons for sending 2000 Australian troops to fight in the Iraq war.

Newspoll says support for the Government in marginal seats has fallen from a high of 46 per cent to 43 per cent over the three months from July to September.

In the same period, support for the opposition Labour Party in marginal seats rose one point to 38 per cent.