Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop are more popular with voters than Malcolm Turnbull in the NSW seat of Orange, according to polling obtained by Fairfax Media.
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The poll of 725 voters, conducted on Monday night by ReachTEL for NSW Labor, comes ahead of a crunch byelection in the state seat on November 12.
Voters in the seat were asked who they considered was the better prime minister and were given three choices - Mr Turnbull, Mr Abbott and Ms Bishop.
Just 32.6 per cent of voters nominated Mr Turnbull as better prime minister; 33.7 per cent of voters nominated former prime minister Mr Abbott and 33.8 per cent of voters nominated deputy Liberal leader Ms Bishop.
And the Prime Minister trailed across every age group and along gender lines, too.
Ms Bishop had the backing of 37.6 per cent of female voters, compared to 31.7 per cent for Mr Abbott and 30.4 per cent for Mr Turnbull. Among men, Mr Abbott led with 35.7 per cent, Mr Turnbull came second with 34.8 per cent and Ms Bishop was third, with 29.5 per cent support as better prime minister.
Ms Bishop was most popular as better prime minister with 39.3 per cent support among 18-34 year olds and 35.7 per cent support among 35-50 year olds; Mr Abbott was the most popular choice of 51-65 year olds with 38.1 per cent support and a thumping 43.1 per cent support among over 65s.
The findings are consistent with other national polls such as the most recent Newspoll published on August 30, which found that Mr Turnbull's rating as better prime minister compared to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten had crashed to its lowest level, 43 to 32 per cent, since he became leader just over a year ago.
The results further underscore the precipitous drop in Mr Turnbull's standing among voters, including those on his own side, since he became leader.
For example, in October 2015, Mr Turnbull led Mr Shorten 67 per cent to 21 per cent in the Fairfax Ipsos poll, reversing the Opposition Leader's lead over Mr Abbott. By election day in July, Mr Turnbull's lead over Mr Shorten had fallen to 49 per cent compared to the Labor leader's 35 per cent.
The poll had a 5 per cent margin of error and there are about 55,000 voters in the state seat of Orange.
The sitting state MP, Andrew Gee, resigned and won the federal seat of Calare on July 2, forcing the byelection.
Orange is historically a strongly conservative seat that is held by the National Party - Labor last held it in 1947 - but there are concerns in Coalition ranks it could fall amid a growing backlash over NSW Premier Mike Baird's decision to ban greyhound racing - a decision opposed by many Nationals MPs.
