Nearly half think Joyce should go: poll

Nearly half of voters in Barnaby Joyce's electorate believe the deputy prime minister should resign from parliament or sit on the backbench.

Of those 47.2 per cent, 26.7 per cent said Mr Joyce should move to the backbench and 20.5 per cent said he should quit parliament in the wake of revelations about his extra-marital affair with a former staffer.

The ReachTEL poll of 1206 New England voters commissioned by Fairfax Media also found Mr Joyce's primary vote had fallen to 43 per cent, from 65 per cent at last year's by-election.

Some 40 per cent of voters are backing the Nationals leader and cabinet minister, the poll found.