Australians may be full of praise for Prime Minister Tony Abbott over his handling of the MH17 disaster, but his unpopular budget still has the Coalition behind in the polls.

A Galaxy poll conducted by News Limited shows that Australians believe Mr Abbott showed more leadership in response to the shooting down of MH17 than all other world leaders – including US President Barack Obama.

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Polled Labor supporters also agreed that the prime minister had led the world in securing a UN resolution to secure access to the site, with 48 per cent of people agreeing that Mr Abbott had shown the most leadership.

Despite this praise, Mr Abbott saw only a marginal improvement in his overall leadership and government approval in the polls, which has dropped significantly since the September 2013 election.

Labor leads the Coalition on a two party preferred basis 52 to 48, and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten leads as preferred prime minister.

Galaxy CEO David Briggs said the poll of 1400 people showed that the MH17 disaster had little impact on the Coalition leader’s standing.

“While voters recognise Tony Abbott has played an important leadership role … this is unlikely to change perceptions towards the Prime Minister overnight … and the Budget has convinced many voters that the opposition leader would do a better job,” he said.