Today’s Essential Report shows no movement on the primary vote, with Labor (41%), Coalition (39%) and Greens (13%) all marking time, yielding a 2PP result the same as over the last fortnight, 55-45%.

Julia Gillard has gone backwards in voter approval, shedding 3% on approval and gaining the same on disapproval, giving her a 16% net approval rating. But Tony Abbott fared worse, losing recent gains to be back about where he was at the end of May with a net approval rating of -13% (35-48%). Gillard has also slightly stretched her lead as preferred PM by two points to 25%. Only 69% of Liberal voters prefer Abbott to Gillard.

A different angle on the extent of Abbott’s problems is shown by Essential’s question about whether Peter Costello would have made a better leader than Abbott. While a solid majority of all voters agree with that — 45-26% — Liberal voters are more enthusiastic for the former treasurer, preferring him 50-25% over Abbott. Curiously, Green voters are even bigger fans of Costello, preferring him 64-19%.

The real interest in the poll is that the gender gap has started to disappear. Women and men are virtually indistinguishable in both Gillard and Abbott’s approval numbers. Only on preferred prime minister, where the Gillard leads Abbott among women by 28 points compared to 21 among men, is there continuing evidence women voters more strongly favour Gillard.

Essential also asked voters when they would make up their minds about whom to vote for. Just over half had already decided; 32% would decide between now and the end of the campaign, while 10% wouldn’t know until they walked into their polling station. However, Green voters were more inclined to decide during the campaign, and people considering voting for other minor parties seem entirely undecided, with more than a quarter saying they wouldn’t make up their minds until polling day, and another 40% during the campaign.