Six out of 10 of Australians think Tony Abbott's Direct Action policy has left the country with an inadequate policy response to the problem of global warming, according to the latest Fairfax Ipsos poll.
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The finding comes as Foreign Minister Julie Bishop attends a major international climate change conference in Peru, accompanied at the Prime Minister's insistence, by Trade Minister and global warming sceptic, Andrew Robb.
His inclusion is being seen as a signal to those within the Coalition in favour of more ambitious emissions reduction targets that Mr Abbott remains opposed to ramping up policy even as the rest of the world positions to do so.
The phone survey of 1401 people taken between December 4 and 6, showed 57 per cent of respondents believed the Coalition's proposed Direct Action policy was "too little" to deal with global warming.
Even a healthy slice of conservative voters at 30 per cent, agreed with that proposition.
The finding will give the besieged Abbott government further food for thought over the summer break after the same poll showed it stuck in an election-losing position with a sliding primary vote and support for the Prime Minister personally, deteriorating sharply.
While 33 per cent of voters described the current policy settings as "about right", the majority disapproval suggests voters have not bought Mr Abbott's triumphant line that 2014 had been a year of delivery and achievement in Canberra.
In particular, it raises questions over the abolition of the carbon tax, which has been trumpeted as a signature achievement in its own right.
Voters appear to be saying they wanted Julia Gillard's carbon tax deleted - perhaps principally because it was born of a broken promise - but most remain profoundly concerned about global warming.
The clamour for tougher policies reveals voters have not abandoned belief in climate change science and want their government to provide a sufficient policy response in line with international action.
Tellingly, given the future expenditure of at least $2.55 billion on the Direct Action's emissions reduction fund, only 7 per cent of respondents think the policy is "too much".
Among Greens voters, nine out of 10 say Direct Action is "too little" - a figure that drops to 76 per cent among committed Labor voters.
Six out of 10 Coalition voters rate the government they back as having the policy setting "about right" with 17 per cent of Labor voters agreeing.
The poll also shows what has often been asserted in politics since the issue arose: that climate and environmental protection issues are stronger among the populations gathered in the mote highly educated inner-city areas.
Sixty per cent of capital city respondents said "too little" was being done by the government, while outside the cities 11 per cent of respondents thought the current approach by Canberra was "too much", compared with 7 per cent of all respondents.
Mr Abbott's personal approval dipped steeply through November and into December with 57 per cent disapproving of his performance against 38 per cent approving. That gave him an approval rating of minus 19 compared to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten on plus 5.
The overall slide in support for the government may have been influenced by the sharp focus on climate change around the G20 in November, despite the efforts of the Prime Minister to minimise that attention.
