Former leader Kevin Rudd basked Tuesday in the second poll in as many days showing more people preferred him to head the ruling Labor party than Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Rudd, who was dumped by Gillard in a brutal and sudden Labor Party coup last June, has insisted he is not gunning for another shot at the leadership, but the poll results suggest he is the politician most people want in the job.
In a three-way Newspoll of 1,511 voters for The Australian newspaper Tuesday asking who was best to lead Labor, Rudd came top with 36 percent followed by Gillard on 29 percent.
Just one in 10 voters backed Treasurer Wayne Swan while one in four refused to nominate a preference.
It followed a Nielsen/Herald survey Monday that showed Rudd, now foreign minister, led former deputy Gillard 55 percent to 38 percent in a head-to-head match-up for preferred prime minister.
The polls are the latest to serve as a warning to Gillard that the electorate is uncertain about its decision to press ahead with a tax on carbon emissions, a policy the opposition has said it will reverse if elected.
Despite Gillard floundering, influential Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes said he continued to back her despite threatening last week to withdraw support if she could not guarantee jobs under the carbon tax.
"Julia Gillard is the best leader the Labor Party's had in a very, very long period of time," Howes, a central figure in the Labor right faction that anointed Gillard last year, told reporters.
"I'm confident she will lead Labor to an election victory at the next election. But that doesn't mean I have to support the government on everything they do."
Gillard leaves Wednesday for a trip to Japan, South Korea and China before heading to London for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
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