When the latest poll was released on Monday, nobody was surprised to see it was the 30th time in a row that the Coalition had trailed the Labor Party. Nor will it be the last.

But what should have been just another of the countless polls published each year has taken on far greater significance – in the minds of the media, if not the public – as 30 poll losses was the magic number that Malcolm Turnbull seized on to launch a spill against former prime minister Tony Abbott in September 2015.

Naturally then, commentary on Monday centred on whether Mr Turnbull should apply the same test of failure to his own leadership. Unsurprisingly, Mr Turnbull’s opponents – including those within the Coalition – passionately believe he should while Mr Turnbull’s supporters, of course, believe otherwise.

But those who have been back to review the tape from 2015 would know that the 30 lost polls was just a single line in a long speech from Mr Turnbull outlining his reasons or challenging Mr Abbott.

The 30 lost polls were mentioned only once while most of the speech focused on a lack of confidence in the economy under Mr Abbott among both the public and business. And that is the playing field that remains Mr Turnbull’s strength.

Australia’s economy today is strong and the release of the federal budget next month is expected to chart the way back to a surplus for the nation.

This is what Mr Turnbull will focus on between now and the next election and finding a way to damage the Coalition’s economic credentials will be the key to victory for Labor.

But the other reason there is no clamour for change among the Coalition at present is that, unlike in 2015, there is no obvious replacement as Liberal leader.

Nobody can imagine Mr Abbott returning to the top job and the scarcity of options was highlighted last week when former treasurer Peter Costello was mooted as a possible saviour of the party in 2019.

There is a lot of nonsense in federal politics at present and the focus on 30 lost polls is a symptom of that.

Mr Turnbull and his government have a lot of work to do if they hope to be returned in 2019 but focusing on opinion polls is well down the pecking order for them.

It should be for the rest of us as well.