Latest polls have suggested that the Coalition will likely win come the federal election on 2013 but the contest will not be as easy as it was a few months back, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Labor mustering considerable surges since May this year.

The Newspoll-News Ltd survey said on Monday that Labor is tied with the Liberal-National alliance as both camps garnered 50 per cent each in the two-party preferred showdown.

But according to the new popularity figures from Nielsen-Fairfax, Tony Abbott's group will end up triumphant late next year as the Coalition kept the government at bay with a 53 per cent edge over Labor's 47 per cent.

The margin, however, that the Coalition has been enjoying is steadily shrinking, both surveys said, with Mr Abbott's personal numbers now behind that of the prime minister, who analysts said has chipped away supports from her nemesis courtesy of shift votes from female Aussies.

The past three weeks saw Ms Gillard bolting away from Mr Abbott in the preferred prime minister battle, which now stood at 47 per cent to 44 per cent, in favour of the former, Nielsen said.

Her approval and disapproval ratings climbed up too as the Australian Financial Review (AFR) noted on its Monday report that Ms Gillard has been on the upswing mode since June this year and is enjoying her best numbers over the past 12 months.

Analysts pointed to the events that appeared to have developed in favour of Labor and Ms Gillard - the carbon tax scare that largely failed to explode, the question on the prime minister's actions as a former industrial lawyer, which she dealt with deft and precision, and the unexpected death of her father.

Without trying too much, political observers said, the Labor leader won back both the trust and sympathy of voters while Mr Abbott struggled to ease the furore over what he did as a student politician 35 years ago at Sydney University.

Allegations have circulated that the Coalition leader intimidated female student leaders and kept the company of thugs while he was a budding university politician, with voters apparently dismayed, observers said, that the defence he merely offered was denying the incident.

It didn't help too that his present poll standing is being threatened from within the Coalition ranks as Fairfax reported on Sunday that former Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull's support from traditionally Liberal voters further grew.

Mr Turnbull is the preferred Liberal leader at 63 per cent as against to Mr Abbott's 30 per cent, Nielsen, adding that the former's support base among Coalition voters seem to be consistently swelling.

The same goes for Ms Gillard, who lags behind Kevin Rudd as the preferred Labor leader but unlike the opposition leader the prime minister is fast-gaining from her erstwhile boss.

If the trend continues, analysts said, some Labor members' clamour for leadership change could eventually die down in the months ahead despite present indications that a return by Mr Rudd at the party helm could immediately boost the government's primary numbers.

In spite of the encouraging push, Labor greeted the new polls with caution as Foreign Minister Bob Carr noted in an interview with ABC on Monday: "Polls spike and dip all the time."

"The trend line is happier than it has been in recent months but we won't be reacting to it beyond saying that," Senator Carr stressed.

Trade Minister Craig Emerson was also relatively subdued in sharing his reading of the latest voters' sentiments, opting to describe Labor's boost as simply "encouraging."

Dr Emerson allowed though that the polls have reflected voters' preference for positive agenda that the government has been pursuing since day one.