Polls make grim reading for Rudd

Mr Rudd's poll numbers have got to get better

Not sure what Kevin Rudd has for breakfast, but he might need a few indigestion tablets as he wakes up to yet another bad poll for him and his Labor Party.

Of course, reading too much into any single poll should be done with caution, but there does seem to be a bit of a trend building.

The latest numbers follow this and this from last week. It looks like the honeymoon period (or should that be second honeymoon) is over following the boost Kevin Rudd got when he re-emerged to oust Julia Gillard as prime minister back in June. Some are suggesting his camp are getting frustrated and increasingly desperate.

The response seems to have been to go negative with a series of new campaign ads taking a potshot at Tony Abbott - and this from the man who promised to "put an end to the wall to wall negativity" in politics.

For Kevin Rudd, the numbers are going to have to get better unless simply avoiding a wipe-out for the Labor Party is the goal.

The sense you get from many Australians is that they don't really like either of the two front-runners. Neither of them are particularly sparkling. And that's backed up by the figures.

The number of people "dissatisfied" with Mr Rudd and Mr Abbott comfortably outscore the number of people who are "satisfied". Mind you, I guess you could say that for elections in quite a few countries around the world.

This is from a few years back, but only estate agents, lawyers (oh, and journalists) get close to politicians and government ministers when it comes to a lack of respect.