40% think New Zealand in worse shape than election day, new 1News-Verian poll shows

• A 1News Verian poll shows 30% believe the country is in better shape than a year ago.
• 40% think it is in worse shape, and 26% see no difference.
• Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and National Party face challenges, with a drop in support noted.

A 1News Verian poll shows that 30% of people think the country is in better shape than on election day a year ago, while 40% think it is in worse shape and 26% think little has changed.

The new poll marks a year since the 2023 election, which delivered a change in Government to the National Party coalition with NZ First and the Act Party. 1News says the full poll results will be released tonight.

The poll of 1000 eligible voters was taken from October 5 to 9.

1News reported this morning that one question had asked about the shape of the country a year on: “do you think the country is in a worse shape or a better shape or no different than it was before the election?”

In response, 40% said it was in worse shape, 30% said in better shape and 26% said no different. Four per cent did not know or refused to say.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and the National Party will be watching tonight’s full results with some trepidation after a Taxpayers’ Union Curia poll out last week showed a drop in support for the party.

That poll was taken over a similar time period to the 1News Verian poll, and showed National support dropping 4.1 percentage points to 34.9% – its lowest result in 15 months in the Curia polls.

Labour’s 30.3% result was up 3.6 points on the last poll in September.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was down five percentage points to 27.7% in the preferred PM rankings and Labour leader Chris Hipkins jumped 4.3 points to 16.9%.

It came amid protest action against the Government’s decision concerning the redevelopment of Dunedin Hospital and its progression of fast-track consenting legislation.