Male support for PM crashes Julia Gillard's controversial attempt to rescue Labor by claiming Tony Abbott would marginalise women and change abortion rights has backfired, with support among male voters collapsing. In a finding certain to ratchet up pressure on the Prime Minister's besieged leadership, the latest Fairfax-Nielsen poll has found Labor's standing has continued to slide, led entirely by a 7 per cent exodus of men, while failing to lift substantially among female voters. With Kevin Rudd as leader the best case for Labor is a possible hung Parliament. According to the monthly survey, the ALP's primary vote now has a psychologically devastating "2" in front of it with less than three months to the election on September 14. Ms Gillard also has gone backwards as preferred prime minister, giving her the lowest approval rating in a year. The poll coincides with the final sittings of the 43rd Parliament and shows that at 29 per cent, Labor's primary support has slipped below the 30 per cent barrier for only the second time this year. With the Coalition attracting 47 per cent of first-preference votes, Labor trails by a staggering 18 points on primary votes, putting the overall two party-preferred vote at 43-57 in favour of the Coalition or 42-58 based on how the 1400 respondents said they would allocate preferences. If reflected at the election, that would mean a 7 per cent swing to the Coalition on the 50-50 hung Parliament result of 2010, and mean the loss of 30 or more seats, virtually halving Labor's representation now. Electorate misjudgement: Julia Gillard now has the lowest approval rating in a year. Photo: David Mariuz But the poll also shows that with Kevin Rudd in charge, almost the entire advantage to the Coalition would be wiped out, taking Labor's primary vote up to 40 per cent, the Coalition's down to 42 per cent, and the two party-preferred split to a dead-heat 50-50. As nervous Labor MPs gather in Canberra for what many fear will be a tumultuous session in which the leadership issue may explode, the poll confirms Mr Rudd remains personally more popular than Ms Gillard with a preferred Labor leader rating of 58 per cent to her 32 per cent. But among Labor voters, Ms Gillard still holds a 6 point lead. Mr Rudd's 26 point lead over Ms Gillard overall was beaten by the gap between former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull and his successor Mr Abbott. Wipe out: Kevin Rudd's appointment as PM would eliminate the Coalition's current advantage. Mr Turnbull is twice as popular among all voters as Mr Abbott at 62-32, once again confirming that neither main party leader is popular and that voters strongly prefer the former leaders. The results of the poll taken nationwide between last Thursday and Saturday reveal voters are unimpressed by Ms Gillard's attempts to politicise the abortion issue, claiming it would become the "plaything" of male politicians, and that under the Coalition women would be banished from public life. The claims brought protests from all sides and criticism from prominent feminist commentators. Liberals and some Labor MPs complained it was an attempt to spread fear and divide Australians - and the poll suggests that is how voters viewed it. Pollster John Stirton said the swing against Labor occurred only among men. Labor's primary vote was down 7 points among men and up 1 point among women. "The ALP two-party vote fell 10 points among men and rose 2 points among women," he said. The poll shows that the leadership of the government is now inextricably linked with its electoral chances, suggesting the ALP could avert annihilation in September by switching back to Mr Rudd. But while the results will send shockwaves through an already dispirited ALP, Mr Stirton warned against reading a snapshot of voter sentiment as a reliable forecast. "With Kevin Rudd as leader the best case for Labor is a possible hung Parliament," he said. This assumes a perfectly smooth transition from Gillard to Rudd, a supportive party united behind Mr Rudd and a honeymoon that continues to election day. This he called "a magical scenario." "More realistically, Mr Rudd would probably retain more seats than Ms Gillard but he would be unlikely to retain government on these numbers," Mr Stirton said.