LATEST polls reveal that Labor is still trailing in the federal election campaign, and is likely to lose its four Tasmanian seats, while the Coalition has a two-party preference lead of 6 per cent.
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A Tasmanian ReachTEL poll from last week showed that Liberal candidates have retained their leads in Bass, Braddon and Lyons, with a 7per cent trail by Labor in Franklin, and a growing lead by independent Andrew Wilkie in Denison.
The latest Fairfax- Nielson poll in Victoria and New South Wales has also suggested a win for the Coalition on September 7 with a two- party preference lead of 53 to Labor's 47.
In a further blow to Labor, the popularity of Kevin Rudd as preferred prime minister has waned since July, from a 55 to 41 lead ahead of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, to a slight lead of 48 to 45.
While the Tasmanian poll results showed the Liberals were ahead in four of the five electorates, all five Liberal candidates had experienced marginal decline since an earlier poll conducted two months ago.
Bass Liberal candidate Andrew Nikolic is at 51.8per cent down from 54per cent in June; Braddon Liberal candidate Brett Whiteley is at 50.6per cent down from 52.6per cent; and Lyons Liberal candidate Eric Hutchinson is at 47.4per cent down from 50per cent.
Similarly, Greens candidates had experienced declines across three electorates, with Bass Greens candidate Lucy Landon- Lane experiencing a drop from 13.4per cent to 7.5per cent.
A resulting increase to Labor was found for candidates Geoff Lyons, in Bass, with a 5.7per cent rise; Sid Sidebottom, in Braddon, with a 9.8per cent rise; and Dick Adams, in Lyons, with a 4.4per cent rise.
These results echoed The Sunday Examiner's poll in July, which showed a gradual clawback of voting intentions preferenced to the Labor candidates.