The Coalition's primary vote is now at 35 per cent, slipping to a level last seen in early 2015 when Tony Abbott faced his first leadership spill to an "empty chair".
According to the latest Newspoll the Coalition now trails labor 47 to 53 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.
But Finance Minister Mathias Cormann believes that after the fortnight the Coalition has gone through - in which it's been plagued by infighting, and constant public critiquing by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott - that the Labor party should have performed better.
"If I was Bill Shorten I'd actually be quite concerned that he didn't make any progress," Minister Cormann told ABC radio.
Mr Shorten has narrowed the preferred prime minister gap to eight percentage points, while Prime Minister Turnbull remains the favourite on 41 per cent with the opposition leader sitting on 33 per cent.
"We've obviously got quite a bit more work to do to put ourselves in a position where we will be competitive for the next election and we will do that," he added.
