Prime Minister Bill English falls below former PM John Key in new poll

Prime Minister Bill English has pulled in a much lower level of support than his predecessor John Key in the latest political poll. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Prime Minister Bill English has pulled in a much lower level of support than his predecessor John Key in the latest political poll.

The Newshub Reid-Research poll has English on 25 per cent as preferred prime minister, well below the 37 per cent Key was on when he left office.

It follows a One News Colmar Brunton poll in February which had English on 31 per cent; close to Key's 36 per cent in the same poll.

Key averaged about 40 per cent in the Reid Research poll in his time in office.

Further results will be released later today. The poll of 1000 voters has a margin of error of 3.1 per cent. About one-quarter of the respondents were taken from an internet panel.

It is unclear whether the poll took place before or after English announced new policy to increase the age of superannuation to 67 for those born after 1972.

However, it indicates English's charm offensive with the voters was yet to pay dividends.

That included inviting media to his farm, appearing in women's' magazines and other ''soft'' media.