Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern upbeat despite polls show support for Labour waning

PM Jacinda Ardern: "We are doing better than the numbers that we were elected on and we were able to form a Government based on that." Photo / Mark Mitchell

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is talking up Labour after two separate polls showed the party shedding support and National climbing.

Last night's 1News/Colmar Brunton polls showed not only that Labour had fallen 3 percentage points to 40 per cent, but that National and Act had the numbers to form a Government.

The MediaWorks/Reid Research poll on Sunday showed Labour had fallen 9.2 percentage points to 41.6 per cent.

Despite this, Ardern was upbeat about the numbers when talking to media this morning.

"We are doing better than the numbers that we were elected on and we were able to form a Government based on that," she told RNZ this morning.

On election night, Labour received 36.9 per cent of the total vote and National got 44.4 per cent.

Ardern said she took heart in the fact that Labour's support has lifted since the election.

But she warned against putting too much emphasis on the polling of the minor parties before the election.

"Polls generally between election cycles have smaller parties [lower], that hasn't happened."

In 2017, New Zealand First got 7.2 per cent of the total vote and the Greens got 6.3 per cent.

Although the Greens are relatively steady, both the Colmar and Reid Research polls have NZ First below 5 per cent, meaning they would not make it back into Parliament.

Ardern said one of the things she has based the success of the Government on was the ability of the smaller parties to maintain their strength.

She said there have been very specific policies for each of the parties in Government.

"I think that has demonstrated the strength of the coalition that they are able to have a voice within our Government and maintain their own identities and they have held up in the polls."

Meanwhile, Ardern is brushing off concerns that more people are pessimistic about the economy.

The Colmar poll showed 41 per cent of people have a pessimistic outlook compared to 34 per cent of people who are optimistic about the economy.

Ardern said any member of the public would agree that there are "clouds on the horizon".
But she talked up the economy and the Government's books.

Last week, Treasury revealed the Government had a $7.5 billion surplus.

"That gives us choices going forward, particularly as we see on the horizon other economies not fearing nearly as well."

Ardern said there was a lot to be positive about in New Zealand and it is important that "we don't talk ourselves into a funk".