Polls strong for Rudd in critical week

CANBERRA: Support for Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd remains at near-record highs even as his government faces defeat on a key promise to launch carbon trading and curb greenhouse gas emissions in the energy-reliant economy.

Rudd's centre-left Labor Party leads conservative rivals by 57 points to 43, the closely watched Newspoll in the Australian newspaper showed yesterday.

Rudd also remained far ahead of conservative opposition leader and former Goldman Sachs executive Malcolm Turnbull, with a favorable opinion rating of 65 percent to 17 percent, close to his strongest showing of 66 percent in late July.