JULIA GILLARD has been handed a lifeline with the latest Herald/Nielsen poll showing support for the Prime Minister and her government increasing sharply.
Despite a tumultuous start to the year for the government prompting a renewed bout of leadership speculation, the poll shows Labor's primary support rising 4 percentage points to 33 per cent since December, its highest level in almost a year.
The Coalition's primary support fell 4 points to 45 per cent and its two-party preferred lead has been cut by 8 points to 53-47 but it would still win in a canter if an election were held today.
However, the rise in Labor's support, as well as 5-point increase in Ms Gillard's approval rating and 6-point rise in her standing as prime minister, should give Ms Gillard some reprieve from growing talk of a leadership push by Kevin Rudd.
The poll shows Mr Rudd is preferred as prime minister by 57 per cent of voters compared with 35 per cent for Ms Gillard. In October, Mr Rudd led by 61 per cent to 30 per cent. About one-quarter of those who back Mr Rudd do not believe he should run for the leadership.
With Parliament to resume tomorrow, Ms Gillard tried to rally MPs at a caucus strategy session yesterday. She warned implicitly that continuing leadership speculation would benefit only the opposition.
She was quoted as saying that people did not join Labor to help the Liberals but ''one of the things that did help them was a lack of discipline''. She called for discipline for the year ahead.
Ms Gillard listed her government's achievements and said global economic change was creating public anxiety.
The ''tough decisions'' Labor made last year, such as putting a price on carbon, had caused political pain. This year, the benefits of some of those decisions would become evident, such as tax cuts and pension rises associated with the price on carbon.
Sources said a small number of MPs, including Deb O'Neill, Steve Georganas and Rob Mitchell, berated anonymous colleagues who were briefing the media on the leadership and destabilising the government.
Ms O'Neill, from NSW, was cited as telling Rudd supporters to ''suck it up and move on''.
Other MPs said the government was failing to sell its message.
The global media baron Rupert Murdoch joined the fray by using Twitter to argue against a Rudd revival. ''Gillard once good education minister, now prisoner of minority greenies. Rudd still delusional who nobody could work with. Nobody else?'' Mr Murdoch tweeted.
The Herald/Nielsen poll of 1400 people was taken from Thursday night to Saturday night, after the Australia Day fracas and at the height of leadership speculation. It found Ms Gillard's approval rose 5 points to 40 per cent and her disapproval fell 3 points to 55 per cent. These are her best figures since May.
Despite the Coalition being ahead of Labor, Tony Abbott's popularity remains on a par with Ms Gillard's. His approval rating was steady at 41 per cent and his disapproval 54 per cent.
Ms Gillard's rating as preferred prime minister rose 6 points to 48 per cent, while Mr Abbott's was steady at 46 per cent.
Labor's two-party-preferred vote of 47 per cent was its best since November 2010. This was based on how preferences flowed at the 2010 election. When those polled were asked how they would allocate preferences, the two-party vote was 52 per cent Coalition to 48 per cent Labor.
Ms Gillard told the Seven Network program Sunday last night she believed she could lead Labor to victory in the 2013 election.
About 80 of the 103-strong caucus attended yesterday's strategy session. Later, MPs went to The Lodge for a barbecue and a pep talk by the former prime minister Bob Hawke.
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