Malcolm Turnbull has massive lead over Bill Shorten, as latest poll reveals seven in ten Australians prefer him as prime minister 

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Malcolm Turnbull will be celebrating more than just his 61st birthday this Saturday, with the latest opinion polls revealing almost 7 out of 10 voters prefer him over Bill Shorten as prime minister. 

The ascension of Mr Turnbull is very bad news for the Labor opposition 12 months out from an election, as the new PM's personal popularity rockets to levels not seen since the cult of Kevin Rudd. 

Prior to the leadership spill that saw Tony Abbott ousted from the top spot, Shorten was holding onto a marginal lead, a lead which has diminished as a revitalised Coalition continues to trounce Labor.  

The latest opinion polls reveal that seven out of 10 voters prefer Malcolm Turnbull over Bill Shorten as prime minister

The ascension of Mr Turnbull is very bad news for the Labor opposition 12 months out from an election

Prior to the leadership spill that saw Tony Abbott ousted, Shorten was holding onto a marginal lead

The latest ReachTel poll, broadcast on Seven News on Friday, showed 68.9 per cent of voters preferred Mr Turnbull to 31.1 per cent for the Labor leader.

Only 23 per cent of voters rated Mr Shorten's performance 'good', with 46 per cent declaring it 'poor' and 31 per cent calling it 'satisfactory'.

Asked whether Labor should change its leader, 40.6 per cent of Labor voters said yes compared with 30.3 per cent opposed and 29.1 per cent undecided.

Across all voters, 40.2 per cent supported a change of Labor leader, with 26 opposed and 33.9 per cent undecided.

Continuing a trend of strong polls since he ousted Tony Abbott, Mr Turnbull has taken the coalition to a 53-47 two-party lead in the ReachTel poll.

The Liberal-National coalition's primary vote was 46.7 per cent to Labor's 33 per cent, with the Greens polling 11.3 per cent, Palmer United 0.9 per cent and 'other' 8.2 per cent.

Asked whether Mr Abbott should remain in parliament, 40.8 per cent said yes, while 45.6 per cent backed him to quit his Sydney seat of Warringah.

Before he was ousted, Mr Abbott trailed Mr Shorten 42-58 as preferred prime minister.

The poll of 3574 residents across Australia was conducted on October 22. 

Only 23% of the voters rated Mr Shorten's performance 'good',  while 40.6% agreed Labour should change it's leader

Malcolm Turnbull will be celebrating more than just his 61st birthday this Saturday