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Malcolm Turnbull Remains Confident He Can Win The Next Election

The Prime Minister's government has suffered 18 Newspoll losses in a row.
Twitter/ABC730

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull believes he is not on a trajectory to lose the next election, saying that the Coalition Government under his leadership will continue to deliver for the Australian people.

Appearing in a frequently jarring interview on the ABC's '7.30' on Monday night, Turnbull denied to acknowledge the fact that his government suffering 18 Newspoll losses in a row is any reflection on his ability to win the next election.

"I disagree with that -- we'll win the next election," he told '7.30' host Leigh Sales.

"Because we will deliver, we will continue to deliver the economic leadership that is showing strong growth in jobs -- we want to see stronger growth.

"Every one of our policies will deliver more investment and more employment."

Support for the Coalition, particularly through the number of Newspoll losses, was a key factor in Turnbull challenging former PM Tony Abbott for the top job after the then government lost 30 in a row.

After a series of tense parliamentary sitting weeks tainted by MP citizenship doubts and the debate surrounding the postal survey on marriage equality, the Coalition under Turnbull dropped another percentage point in the polls last week to their lowest level since February, when support dipped to just 35.

Under Abbott, the Coalition's numbers were that low just once, in June 2014, and they quickly jumped back above 40. The Government's numbers are now several points below where they were in September 2015, when Turnbull cited bad polling as a reason to remove the sitting PM.

After a brief period of positive support growth upon becoming Prime Minister, the numbers have been on a steady decline under Turnbull -- and followers and detractors of the government are continually counting down to 30.

Despite this, the Prime Minister also told Sales that he will not step aside as leader of the Liberal Party so that another, possibly more popular, leader can step up to ensure Opposition leader Bill Shorten doesn't take the top job at the next election. Instead, he said he aims to continue to do his job of delivering for Australians.

"My job is to ensure that Australians have good jobs, that they have affordable and reliable energy, and that they are protected from terrorism, and that they are safe," he said.

"My job is to deliver Australians safety, opportunity, and to do so in a fair society that enables them to realise their dreams, a government that does everything it can to support that opportunity.

"My job is to look after Australians and ensure that they can get ahead."

Turnbull's comments come as the Government under his leadership also faces a number of other issues, including the postal survey, internal party division, lost parliamentary votes and the farce surrounding Section 44 of the constitution and the citizenship debacle.

There's a lot going on for the PM at the moment, stamping out fires left and right. And once the same-sex marriage issue has passed, discussion will turn to how and if the Government can move ahead.

And as of right now, it seems the battle will rage on.

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