Oh of course polls only indicate voting intention at the time the poll is conducted and each individual poll can not be considered conclusive on it's own.
But Abbott like Gillard had there respective parties polling poorly for long periods of time, both were very unpopular. So from the point of view of the party the prospects at the following election don't look at all flash.
In that case the party has to weigh up what are their chances and what better way to decide than have MP's vote on it, that's democratic. It's all very well for a leader to argue they can turn it around but they need the majority of MP's to have faith in them
