Grant Robertson and Jacinda Ardern front media on the recent political poll results which saw Labour drop in popularity. Video / Mark Mitchell
National is down but with Act can still form a government between them while Labour is at its lowest since 2017, according to the latest political poll.
The 1 News-Kantar Poll also registers for the first time a party with links to the occupation at Parliament.
National and Labour have each slipped two points to 37 per cent and 33 per cent respectively.
Benefiting from the falls from the two major parties is Act, which is up four points to 11 per cent. That brings the right bloc to 48 per cent and 62 seats – enough to form a government.
Both Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and National Party leader Christopher Luxon have also dropped in popularity, each down three points to 30 and 22 per cent respectively compared to the last such poll run over May 21 to 25.
Tonight's poll was conducted between July 30 and August 3.
Recent co-leadership issues in the Greens do not appear to have hurt the party too much, dropping just one point to 9 per cent. Te Pāti Māori is steady on 2 per cent.
On those figures, Labour would receive 44 seats and the Green Party 11 adding up to 55 - well short of the 60 needed, even with the potential three seats from Te Pāti Māori.
Among the parties outside Parliament, NZ First is up two points to three per cent and the Opportunities Party remains steady on 2 per cent.
The poll also has the first appearance, at 1 per cent, of Vision NZ.
The party is led by Hannah Tamaki, the wife of Brian Tamaki who founded Destiny Church and the Freedom and Rights Coalition, one of the key groups involved in the recent occupation at Parliament.
The New Conservative party, which also has links to the occupation and wider anti-government protest movement, remains on 1 per cent.
Democrats for Social Credit round out the numbers also on 1 per cent.
Among preferred prime minister candidates, Act leader David Seymour is up two points to 5 per cent, NZ First leader Winston Peters up one point to 2 per cent and Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick down one point to 1 per cent.
The poll had a sample size of 1023 eligible voters, about half polled via mobile and half online, giving a margin of error of 3.1 per cent.
More recent polls have also shown National edging past Labour and forming a slight majority alongside traditional coalition partner Act. Luxon has also edged up in the leader stakes over the first half of the year, but Ardern has generally retained a solid lead.
However, it has been a turbulent few months politically since the last 1 News-Kantar poll at the end of May.
Issues since then have included Luxon's mixed messages over the right of women to a safe abortion after the US overturned the constitutional right there.
More recently his comments about the business sector and lack of clarity over National's tax policies have also come under scrutiny.
Ardern meanwhile is coming off the back of several overseas trips, including getting the European Union Free Trade deal over the line and making ground on key issues including 501 deportations in Australia.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon during the annual conference over the weekend in Christchurch. Photo / George Heard
At the last 1 News-Kantar poll at the end of May, National was steady on 39 per cent and Labour dropped 2 points to 35 per cent.
The Green Party was up one point to 10 per cent, Act down one to 7 per cent and Te Pāti Māori steady on 2 per cent.
On those results, National and Act would get 60 seats - exactly half the 120 seats in Parliament.
Climate Change Minister James Shaw was recently voted out of his Green Party co-leadership, but is now the only contender ahead of a revote. Photo / Pool
Labour would get 45 seats, the Greens 13 and Te Pāti Māori two. This situation, provided Te Pāti Māori did not side with National and Act, could see a hung Parliament.
There was also little change in results for the preferred prime minister, with Jacinda Ardern down one point to 33 per cent and Luxon steady at 25 per cent.
The most recent Taxpayers' Union-Curia Poll in July had National scoring 37 per cent, down 0.4 points. Labour was up half a point to 34.7.
Act scored 10 per cent, up 0.6, and the Greens were up 0.2 points to 8.5 per cent.
Te Pāti Māori surged 1.9 points to 3.7 per cent, while New Zealand First was up half a point to 2.8 per cent.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Other parties, likely dominated by TOP, were down 3.2 points to 3.3 per cent (the Taxpayers' Union-Curia Poll doesn't break out the minnow vote).
This would give National 47 seats and Act 13. They would need Te Pāti Māori's five seats to become the Government.
