Prime Minister Anthony Albanese may have tumbled awkwardly off a stage on Thursday, but Opposition Leader Peter Dutton appears to have suffered an even bigger fall.

New polling shows Dutton’s approval rating among voters has plunged to its worst level since he became Coalition leader.

The first YouGov poll of this federal election shows Dutton’s satisfaction rating plummeting to -15. His net satisfaction among voters slumped by 10 points in the two weeks since the last YouGov poll was released on March 21.

Albanese’s personal standing among voters remains in negative territory, but his satisfaction level has improved from -9 to -6. It’s the first time since June 2024 that he has had a higher net satisfaction rating than Dutton.

How the leaders’ net satisfaction ratings have changed. Image: AAP

Opinion ratings for Dutton had dropped substantially since he unveiled policies, YouGov’s director of public data Paul Smith said.

“Peter Dutton’s personal satisfaction ratings have sunk like a stone to his lowest ever in YouGov’s public data poll since he tied himself to Trump-style policies of banning work from home and sacking 40,000 public sector workers,” he said.

Meanwhile, Albanese’s carefully managed election campaign briefly unravelled on Thursday as he took a tumble on stage. He had just finished addressing a union conference when he fell while trying to take a group photo.

Onlookers at the event in the NSW Hunter Valley gasped as Albanese fell off a riser, clutching another person’s arm as he went down. He was quickly back on his feet and all smiles as he acknowledged the stumble.

As the first week of the federal election campaign wraps up, Labor maintains its slim overall lead over the Coalition, ahead 51 per cent to 49 on a two-party preferred basis.

Dutton has been under pressure on the campaign trail to detail where the public service cuts will be made.

Voters’ views of Peter Dutton have changed. Image: AAP

The YouGov poll also showed Labor’s primary vote has gone backwards slightly since the election campaign started, dropping one point to 30 per cent. The Coalition’s also fell by two points, to 35 per cent.

While the Greens and One Nation have remained stable at 13 and 7 per cent respectively for their primary votes, independents have enjoyed a slight increase, rising by two points to 10 per cent.

Albanese also solidified his lead as preferred prime minister, leading 45 per cent to 38 per cent, following a two-point drop in support for Dutton.

The polling comes as party leaders have tried to pitch themselves as best placed to deal with US President Donald Trump, following the decision to impose 10 per cent tariffs on Australian exports.

The ramifications of the tariff decision are expected to dominate discussion as the election campaign enters its second week.

Both party leaders will spend Friday campaigning in Sydney, with several seats in the city set to be crucial to the election outcome.

The YouGov poll of 1622 people was conducted between March 28 and April 3, with a margin of error of 3.3 per cent.

-with AAP