A swing of 4 per cent against Kevin Rudd's government threatens to strip the ALP of future stars as voters cast a harsh judgment on the party's internal divisions.

A poll shows electors will turn their backs on big-picture policies to price carbon, tax big miners, and build a first-class national broadband network, in favour of the smaller horizons of reduced debt, smaller government, and a new domestic-first focus.

The latest Age/Nielsen survey suggests 54 per cent of the nation's 14.7 million electors are embracing the Coalition.

Labor's primary vote has slumped to 33 per cent, with the Coalition on 46 per cent.

Primary support for Labor, and Mr Rudd's own popularity, are now as low or lower than they were in June 2010, suggesting the party that has twice changed prime ministers and torn itself apart in the search for votes is back where it started.

Mr Abbott has maintained his 7-point lead as the more trusted of the two leaders.

Other polls also point to a Coalition victory, but a slightly closer result. The final Morgan poll found the Coalition ahead after preferences by 53.5 per cent to 46.5 per cent, the Galaxy poll put it at 53-47, and the Essential poll found the Coalition leading 52-48.

The Age/Nielsen poll result came as the two contenders made their final pitches, with Mr Rudd warning of severe undisclosed cuts under the Coalition.

The Prime Minister cited late Coalition policy releases cutting money for childcare and aged care as evidence of the future under Mr Abbott.

''If, with one day to go, you still have doubts about Mr Abbott's hidden massive cuts and their effect on your jobs, your school, your hospital, your childcare centre, and your NBN then don't vote for him. It's as basic as that,'' Mr Rudd said.

A confident Mr Abbott, campaigning in the Labor-held Victorian seat of Chisholm, currently held by Speaker Anna Burke by 5.8 per cent, urged voters not to ''dilly-dally'' with minor parties. ''Sure, they might be fun, sure, they might be different, but they will damage our country and damage our government if they play the same role in the next Parliament that they played in the last Parliament. Don't waste your vote,'' he said.

A record 82 per cent of all voters polled believe the Coalition will win the election, with just 12 per cent saying Labor can pull it off.

The Greens have improved their slice of the electorate by 1 point to 11 per cent.

If applied uniformly across the nation, the 4 per cent swing would cost Labor 14 seats.

But strategists on both sides expect Labor's losses to be even higher, with as many as 25 seats falling into conservative hands.

That is because the national average is skewed by higher-than-average pro-Coalition swings in the big population states of Victoria (4 per cent) and NSW (5 per cent).

The poll of 1431 respondents was taken on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

Despite what appeared to be a strong final week of his campaign, voter confidence in Mr Rudd's performance has dwindled, with his net approval rating dropping to minus 9 per cent, its lowest rating since June 2010 when he was dumped by his colleagues.

At a primary vote of 33 per cent, Labor is also as unpopular as it was at that time, even though Mr Rudd's lead over Mr Abbott as preferred prime minister was a superior 10 percentage points.

However, the Prime Minister's loss of standing has not translated into a direct gain for his opponent, with Mr Rudd still shading Mr Abbott as preferred PM 47-46.

Mr Abbott's net approval rating has improved, however, to be 3 points higher than it was a fortnight ago. It stands at minus 5 per cent, his highest net approval in more than two years when he registered minus 1 per cent.

The net approval rating is derived by subtracting the number who disapprove of a leader's performance from the number who approve.

Pollster John Stirton said Labor's primary vote was still 1 point higher than that achieved by Julia Gillard in 2013, but was 2 points lower than the 35 per cent primary vote she registered in December 2012.

Labor's campaign claimed its private polling had shown voters were in fact worried by the Coalition's late release of costing information and the supposed threat of further harsh cuts in government.

A campaign spokesman said 36 per cent of people say ''the Coalition's costings charade made them feel less favourable to them'' and 72 per cent ''are aware of late release of costings''.

It was claimed that 57 per cent of people polled were either ''worried (extremely, very, or fairly worried)'' about cuts to education and health.