The Newspoll before the election has great news for Tony Abbott: the Liberals’ lead in polling on the economy has been trashed by Abbott’s economic innumeracy.

For the last three weeks, Tony Abbott has refused to accept a debate with Julia Gillard on the economy (or any other issue). Labor has responded by running ads highlighting Tony Abbott’s economic record – a personal history of former bosses and Liberal Ministers expressing complete lack of confidence in Abbott’s financial nous.

Newspoll shows that the Liberal Party’s 12 point lead on “handling the economy” has been reduced to just 1 point.

The Opposition Leader responded to criticism of his economic credentials by declaring “under the Coalition, debt will always be lower and deficits smaller”.

It is voodoo economic statements like this that has contributed to Tony Abbott turning Liberal gold into Liberal mud. When ever he is asked about the size of deficits or interest rates, Abbott comes out with ludicrous statements that most Australians can clearly see is farcical.

The polling also shows that Labor is breaking through with its message that its stimulus package helped safeguard Australian jobs during the Global Financial Crisis.