In her first visit to Auckland since the Delta outbreak began, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visited the Avondale factory of JMP engineering.
Video / Jed Bradley
Labour has taken a shellacking in the two new polls as the ongoing lockdown in Auckland starts to bite.
A leaked copy of Talbot Mills Research poll (formerly UMR) shows Labour has dropped by five points to 41 per cent in the past month – its lowest result since January 2020, before Covid-19 hit New Zealand.
The latest Taxpayers' Union Curia poll out today also showed Labour had crashed six points to 39 per cent - while National was up four points to 26 per cent.
In both polls, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has also taken a hit.
In Talbot Mills, Ardern remains well ahead of anyone else as preferred Prime Minister on 47 per cent. That is back to her pre-Covid levels of support, down from a high of 65 per cent in the first lockdowns in 2020.
It is down on 51 per cent in last month's poll.
The Talbot Mills poll showed a significant drop in the support for the Government's handling of Covid-19 over the last month as three months of lockdown in Auckland started to bite.
Those who rated the Government's handling as good had dropped from 60 per cent in October to just 46 per cent, while those who rated it as poor had risen from 16 per cent to 26 per cent.
The Government has been wrestling with containing the outbreak in Auckland and trying to get vaccination levels high enough to ease restrictions more, but has copped criticism for a lack of certainty on when and how it will re-open, and from those opposed to vaccination mandates and lockdown restrictions.
There was also a large increase in those who believe the worst is yet to come in the pandemic – 75 per cent now think that the worst is still is come.
Despite the hit to Labour, National has made only incremental gains – going up two points from 22 to 24 per cent, while Act has risen yet again, up one point to 17 per cent – breaking its previous record in the poll.
In the Taxpayer's Union Curia poll, Jacinda Ardern crashed 13 points as preferred prime minister, down to 34 per cent. She's still well ahead of National leader Judith Collins who is up 1 point to 6.
Collins is behind Act leader David Seymour, who has fallen two points to 10.5 per cent.
In the Talbot Mills Research poll, Seymour is well above Collins as preferred Prime Minister – Seymour is on 15 per cent while Collins is on 10 per cent.
Simon Bridges, who is considered most likely to challenge Collins as leader, had not made any gains and was on 0.9 per cent while Christopher Luxon was on 2 per cent.
The gap between National-Act and Labour-Greens has dropped to 10 percentage points.
The Green Party has helped bolster the overall centre left vote in the poll, going up two points to nine per cent. NZ First was up slightly to 4.2 per cent, and the Maori Party was on 2.4 per cent.
Labour's dropping support has not helped Judith Collins. Photo / Mark Mitchell
In the Taxpayers' Union Curia Poll, Act is down one point to 16 per cent, and the Greens were up 2 points to 9 (8.6 per cent).
