Governing coalition bounces back in new 1News Verian poll, Hipkins closes preferred PM gap

The coalition Government parties have nudged back up in the latest 1News Verian poll.

The poll has National on 38% (up 2), Act on 7% and New Zealand First on 6% – also up 2 and back above the 5% threshold after dipping below it in April.

That would give the coalition partners 64 seats in Parliament – four fewer than they currently have but enough to stay in power.

Labour has dropped 1 point to 29 – back below 30%. Te Pāti Māori was on 3% and the Green Party on 13% – down one.

As preferred Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon has held steady on 23% – but Labour leader Chris Hipkins was closing the gap, nudging up 2 points to 18%.

Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick was third with 6% as preferred PM. The Greens only took a small hit after a rollercoaster for the party and its MPs.

In response to the poll, Luxon told 1News he was “not worried about your poll, or any poll frankly”.

”The reality is we have to keep working hard for the New Zealand people.”

Act leader David Seymour said “it’s tough. People know it’s tough. And we’re just keeping our heads down, doing the work through the winter”.

Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins has closed the preferred Prime Minister gap. Photo / Andrew Warner

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said that overall, the trend was showing Labour’s support was increasing since the election.

The poll comes amid a hard economic crunch and as the Government has faced protests over measures such as its fast-track consenting law change and policies impacting on Māori.

The polling period followed Luxon’s trip to Japan and coincided with the mass power cut to Northland after a Transpower pylon fell over, and the grounding of the Interislander ferry near Picton.

It is also the first 1News Verian poll since the Budget, which included the Government’s tax cuts but was partly overshadowed by the focus on the failure to deliver on National’s cancer drugs promise.

That was not rectified until this week, when Luxon set out a $603 million boost to Pharmac to fund 26 cancer drugs, as well as up to 28 medicines for other conditions.

On Sunday, the coalition Government also rolled out its plans for youth offender boot camps and the news that more police would be deployed on the streets of Auckland’s CBD.

In the last 1News Verian poll at the end of April, National was at 36% and Labour had lifted to 30%. In the preferred PM rankings, Luxon had dropped two points to 23% while Hipkins was up one point to 16%.

Act was on 7% and NZ First on 4% – below the threshold needed to get into Parliament in an election. The Green Party was on 14% and Te Pāti Māori on 4%.

A recent Taxpayers’ Union Curia poll in mid June showed National and its coalition partners had not benefited from a post-Budget honeymoon.

That poll, taken after the Budget, put National’s support at 35.4%, down 1.9 points. Act was up 0.3 points to 9.7% and fellow coalition partner NZ First was up 0.1 points to 5.6%.

Those numbers would give the current Government 63 seats, down three from last month’s poll, but enough to govern.

Labour was down 0.6 points to 29.4%, while Te Pāti Māori was up up 0.9 points to 4%. The Greens were the biggest winners, up 2.5 points to 12.7%.

Today’s poll was taken from June 15-19. 1002 eligible voters were polled by mobile phone (502) and online, using online panels (500). It has a margin of error of ±3.1%-points.