Gillard's fresh start: Labor 42 to Coalition 58 Labor was unelectable already. Now Newspoll adds the cost of the latest two weeks of catastrophe: Based on preference flows at the 2010 election, the Coalition's two-party-preferred vote rose six points to a 12-month high of 58 per cent while Labor's fell to 42 per cent. And on the single measure that Julia Gillard for months touted as the means to recovery - her relative popularity over Tony Abbott: On the question of who would make the better prime minister, Ms Gillard's support dropped seven percentage points to 35 per cent, its lowest since October 2011, while Mr Abbott's support jumped five points to 43 per cent, his highest since September 2011. Dennis Shanahan says don't blame Kevin Rudd: Rudd didn't bring in the botched media laws; he didn't declare the election six months early; he didn't design the current mining tax, promise a budget surplus or declare a class or gender war.