Face off: PM, Dutton cross paths in campaign hot spot

Both leaders have spent the past week zipping across the nation to court voters ahead of the May 3 election.

But on Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton crossed paths at the Daily Telegraph's Future of Western Sydney event, before making competing pitches to one of the fastest growing regions in Australia.

The prime minister highlighted the potential of the region and linked back to Labor's vision to "build Australia's future".

"What Western Sydney is about is opportunity," Mr Albanese said.

"We want people to get ahead, we want more people to be able to have businesses and to be able to aspire to a better opportunity in life, but also no one left behind."

On the other hand, Mr Dutton played to his strengths and highlighted the struggles of local voters.

"People have worked hard, but their stories are reflective of what's happening across Western Sydney and indeed across the country - where people are just really struggling to make ends meet," Mr Dutton said.

Western Sydney shapes as a key battleground in a knifes-edge election 

Its multicultural community and comparatively low socio-economic status has traditionally made the area a Labor heartland, but growing mortgage pains, mistrust over the government's actions regarding the conflict in Gaza and previous electoral blunders could offer an opening for the coalition.

With just weeks until Australians take to the ballot boxes, Mr Dutton's approval rating among voters has plunged to its worst level since becoming opposition leader, polling shows.

The first YouGov poll since the federal election, shows Mr Dutton's satisfaction rating plummeting to minus 15.

His net satisfaction among voters slumped by 10 points in the two weeks since the last YouGov poll was released on March 21.

Mr Albanese's personal standing among voters remains in negative territory, but his satisfaction level has improved from minus nine to minus six.

It's the first time since June 2024 the prime minister has had a higher net-satisfaction rating than the opposition leader.

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.

Opinion ratings for Mr 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.

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

The YouGov poll also showed Labor's primary vote went backwards slightly since the election campaign started, dropping one point to 30 per cent, while the coalition's also fell by two points to 35 per cent.

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

Mr 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 Mr Dutton as leader.

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

Australian Associated Press