Prime Minister Julia Gillard further surged in the popularity race with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, attracting as much as 50 per cent of Aussie voters who regard her as their preferred leader, the new Fairfax-Nielsen survey said on Monday.

While Ms Gillard won in all the contest departments pitting her against the Coalition leader, Mr Abbott appeared to be losing his appeal even among the traditional voters' segments that left him 10 points behind as the nation's preferred prime minister, mustering only 40 per cent of votes, Nielsen said.

Most notable, Fairfax said, is Ms Gillard's constantly climbing approval rating, which in the latest survey soared by five points to 47 per cent while that of Mr Abbott's was stuck at 37 per cent.

The two party leaders' disapproval ratings also unveiled the same trend - Ms Gillard flashing considerable pick ups while Mr Abbott was floundering, with the former gaining some traction in the so-called gender war while the latter was losing out territories at alarming levels.

In theory, according to analysts, the prime minister's fiery speech two weeks ago, in which she accused Mr Abbott of being sexist and misogynist, delivered the goods but in reality, Australians simply did some reassessing, Nielsen poll director John Stirton told Fairfax.

For many Aussies, the scare tactic about the carbon tax pushed by the Coalition failed to sustain the panic and fear it initially created, allowing the Labor-led government to recover its standings before the controversial tax program was introduced, Mt Stirton said.

However, the Liberal-National Coalition remains in a strong position to snatch away government power from Labor as the former maintained its edge in the primary vote - 43 per cent to Labor's 34 per cent.

On two-party preferred, Mr Abbott's group is also on top - 52 per cent against to Labor's 48 per cent.

It should be interesting to note that the Coalition has been giving up significant numbers in this specific tussle, shedding away 16 points since June this year, Mr Stirton said, noting too that Labor is fast-gaining on the opposition.

Mr Abbott's consolation at the moment is voters bestow government power to political parties and Ms Gillard's advantage over him, popularity-wise, would be for nothing if elections were held shortly, analysts said.

But the sparring will not start any sooner and between now through the voting in late 2013, anything can happen, with the numbers indicating that swings could favour both Labor and the Coalition, political observers said.

The government, at least, is buoyed by the fact that it will not go down without a good fight as suggested in earlier opinion polls, experts said.

In an interview with ABC, senior Labor figure Craig Emerson said Aussies have affirmed in the new survey that "Tony Abbott's ratings are collapsing because all he's got left is this relentless negativity."

Nielsen's new data also proved that the Coalition's efforts of scaring away voters from Labor on the account of the carbon tax had backfired, Dr Emerson added.

But Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey dismissed suggestions that the Coalition lead on the polls, no thanks to its campaign tactics, was gradually withering away, suggesting too: "I'm not sure if polls are always right."

He added that the new survey also pointed to the fact that voters largely ignored the hypocrisy that Ms Gillard had attempted to peddle at the Parliament.

"Quite frankly for those who bore witness to the concepts of the speech, the hypocrisy of her words was not lost," Mr Hockey was reported by the Australian Associated Press (AAP) as saying on Monday.

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