Opposition leads ahead of 1st Aussie debate

SYDNEY: A fresh opinion poll showed Australia’s bare-knuckle election campaign tightening significantly but the centre-left opposition Labor party maintaining a narrow lead ahead of a first televised leaders’ debate yesterday.

The Newspoll survey showed Labor’s edge over the conservative governing coalition narrowed to two percentage points, well within the margin of error.

For months the polls had shown the opposition headed for a landslide victory at the May 18 vote.

The latest result heaps pressure on the 51-year-old Labor leader Bill Shorten, who will meet Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Perth, for the first of up to three debates.

Labor is more popular than the Liberal party in a generic ballot, while Morrison, an evangelical Christian, has better personal approval ratings than Shorten, a former union leader.