Abbott and mainly the Barnaby scandal would have been expected...

Abbott and mainly the Barnaby scandal would have been expected to diminish the Coalition vote by more than 1%. However Turnbull taking the high moral ground and a reasonable USA media coverage appears to have staved off a more pronounced collapse in the vote. 54/46 in Labor’s favour has occurred on quite a few times in recent times.

I am surprised the vote was not worse and can only attribute the better result to Turnbull's firm stance on Joyce. Of course with Parliament back in session things can change week by week.