John Key still most preferred PM by far

John Key had 53 percent support to be Prime Minister, according to a new poll. File photo / NZ Herald

John Key's still leaving Phil Goff in the dust when it comes to the preferred Prime Minister stakes.

Two political polls are giving Mr Key at least a 40 per cent lead on Mr Goff, six months out from the election.

A ONE News poll has John Key on 53 per cent support, down 2 per cent on last month, compared to Phil Goff's 8 per cent.

TV3's poll suggests a similar result, with the Prime Minister on 48.2 per cent and the Labour leader on 7.6 per cent.

As for their parties, National is polling slightly lower on 52 per cent and Labour remains steady on 34 per cent.

The Greens want to hit at least 10 per cent support come election time.

The ONE News poll has the party polling steady on 6 per cent, while a TV3 poll has it on 6.5 per cent, down slightly from the last result.

Greens Co-leader Russel Norman is relatively happy with the numbers, so long as they keep going up.

"That's the range we want to be in now though, we wanted to close in on 10 per cent particularly around the election and that's our goal this time, we want to get in to double figures at the election," he told Newstalk ZB.

Russel Norman says the Greens are one of only three parties polling above 5 per cent.

The polls also don't show quite the lift ACT was looking for. The two polls, taken since Don Brash took over the party, have his party hovering around 2.5 per cent.

Don Brash acknowledges there's a long way to go.

"Well I don't have a particular number in mind but I very much hope to get a lot more than that," he told Newstalk ZB. "I want to encourage the next Government to adopt policies which will benefit all New Zealanders and clearly the bigger the party vote ACT can get, the better my chances of doing that."

He contends people are concerned about the state of the country.

"A lot of people are worried that their friends and children are moving to Australia because the gap between our income and that of Australia is still growing."

Don Brash says his challenge remains how to build the Act Party vote over the next few months

- Newstalk ZB