A Newspoll has found that only one in four Australians believe the Gillard government will on a promise to return the federal budget to surplus this year.
The poll, published in The Australian newspaper on Tuesday, found that 59% of voters believed the government would fail to return the budget to surplus in 2012-13 as promised.
Only 26% of voters believe the government will achieve its goal.
AAP reports more than half of voters also believe that achieving a surplus is either a low priority or not a priority.
The poll found the highest expectation of failure was among coalition voter (78%) and among women voters (61%). Even among Labor supporters, the expectation of failure was 47%.
AAP reports Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Monday dodged a challenge by the opposition in parliament to personally guarantee the return to surplus this financial year.
