Poll heaps more pressure on Abbott

The Abbott government has taken a kicking in a poll released the day after a disastrous election result in Queensland.

The coalition now lags Labor 57 to 43 per cent on a two-party preferred basis, the Galaxy Poll published in News Corp Australia's Sunday newspapers shows.

That's a widening of the gap since December, when the gap was 55 to 45.

With a primary vote of 36 per cent, more than 40 federal coalition MPs would lose their seats were an election held on Sunday.

The shock result is set to heap more pressure on Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose personal approval rating is wallowing at 27 per cent.

Support for opposition leader Bill Shorten has increased to 44 per cent.

It comes after a huge swing against the Liberal National Party in Queensland, with leader Campbell Newman losing his seat of Ashgrove in Saturday's state election.