Prime Minster Kevin Rudd's satisfaction rating had plummeted within the past two weeks from 42 per cent down to 38 per cent and dissatisfaction rating went 6 points up the scale from 41 per cent to 47 per cent, according to the latest Newspoll conducted exclusively for The Australian.

The difference between Mr Rudd's net satisfaction rating and dissatisfaction rating was currently at negative 9, the Newspoll revealed.

In as much as voters still prefer Mr Rudd, making him all the more popular than rival Tony Abbott, Mr Rudd's personal support and support as preferred prime minister were at its most negative since his reclaim of the prime ministership from Julia Gillard in June 2013.

As for the question of who would make the better prime minister, Mr Rudd's votes went down from 50 per cent two weeks ago to 47 per cent. This was 6 per cent down the scale since June 2013.

Meanwhile, it looked like that voters were not impressed with Mr Abbott either, with his satisfaction rating remaining at a poor level all the year round at 34 per cent, plummeting a point from two weeks ago. His dissatisfaction rating also remained in status quo at 56 per cent for a net satisfaction rating of minus 22.

Support for Mr Abbott also remained in a status quo at 33 per cent. This made Mr Rudd leading over Mr Abbott at 14 percentage points.

With the bottle-neck competition going between Mr Rudd and Mr Abbott, Mr Abbott told Seven Network's Sunrise program that the election should not be about them but should be the party's over all objective for the country.

"Obviously the big issues as always are economic strength and national security. One thing we are not going to do though is turn this into an American-style election campaign. It's not all about Kevin, it's not all about me. It's about teams and it's about the public."

ABC's chief political writer Annabel Crabb wrote that this year's Federal Election will be more of "Have Either of These Men Changed?"

Rudd feels he has changed. And perhaps we should take his word for it. He has - after all - had ample time in recent weeks to reflect on the matter, zipping through the depressurised cool of the stratosphere between Brisbane and Jakarta, Port Moresby and Hobart, Darwin and Kabul.

Tony Abbott wants us to believe this: that the demolition expert of Australian politics - who has destroyed not just one prime minister but two in his short but potent period as Opposition Leader, and whose chief tactical genius has been to find way of opposing even in circumstances where the most basic human logic suggested strongly otherwise - could, given the faith of just over 50 per cent of the continent's population, put away his wrecking ball and become a builder of fine things.