Support for the ALP has fallen to just 30 per cent as voters flood back to a rejuvenated Coalition government under Malcolm Turnbull's positive new leadership style one month after he replaced the unpopular Tony Abbott as Prime Minister.
In what appears to be a clear vindication of that bruising leadership switch, Mr Turnbull has more than tripled Bill Shorten's popularity as preferred prime minister at 67 per cent to Mr Shorten's 21 - a dive of 24 points for the Opposition Leader since   August, when he was up against Mr Abbott. 
The   October Fairfax-Ipsos poll has found the Coalition has surged ahead of Labor at 53-47, according to the flow of second preferences as allocated at the 2013 election.
It is the first time the government has led Labor since   March 2014, just before the disastrous first Abbott-Hockey budget, and suggests the Coalition has recovered almost all the ground lost since its landslide victory in   September 2013.
The poll also shows 54 per cent of respondents in favour of the China-Australia free-trade agreement compared with 33 per cent opposed, giving it a support rating of plus-21 per cent.
Mr Turnbull's net approval rating as Prime Minister now stands at a healthy plus-51 per cent based on 68 per cent of voters approving of the way he is handling his job, minus the percentage of voters who disapprove, 17 per cent.
Mr Shorten's performance in his role as Opposition Leader is being marked down, with those approving (32 per cent) minus the percentage who those who disapprove (56 per cent) giving him a net rating of minus-24 per cent - a fall of 14 points in two months.
Labor's primary vote has dropped by 6 points over the same period to be just 30 per cent, whereas the Coalition's first-preference support has bounced back to 45 per cent.
Based on the second preference allocated by voters in 2013, that translates to a split of 53-47 in favour of the government - half a percentage point off the high-water mark of 53.5 per cent when it was elected.
It means the swing away from the Coalition since   September 2013 now stands at just 0.5 per cent, returning them to front-runner status for the election due within a year.
And when respondents were asked specifically who would get their second preference right now, the story got even worse for Mr Shorten, with the split widening to 54-46 in the Coalition's favour.
The statistically weighted nationwide phone survey of 1403 respondents was taken over   October 15-17 at the end of another difficult week for Mr Shorten, who attracted widespread criticism for attacking Mr Turnbull's wealth and his use of a hedge fund in the off-shore tax-haven, the Cayman Islands, to manage his investments.
At plus-51 per cent, Mr Turnbull's net approval rating (68 per cent minus a 17 per cent disapproval) eclipses even the stellar approval rating of Kevin Rudd at his peak (in the then Fairfax-Nielsen series) who, in   May 2008, registered a 69 per cent approval number but also had a slightly higher disapproval rating than Mr Turnbull of 22 per cent.
By contrast, Mr Shorten's approval rating at just 32 per cent (down 7 percentage points) is sinking at the same rate as his party's plummeting primary vote support of 30 per cent (down 7 points since   August), which is 10 points lower than it was at the start of 2015.
Those disapproving of his performance as Opposition Leader has soared to 56 per cent in a finding likely to increase internal dissatisfaction levels over his leadership.
Preferred PM ratings after first taking office
John Howard
61%
  May, 1996
Kevin Rudd
70%
  May 2008
Julia Gillard
56%
  July 2010
Kevin Rudd
55%
  July 2013
Malcolm Turnbull
67%
  October 2015
Tony Abbott
49%
  November 2013