Labour is three points ahead of National, 44 per cent to 41, in the latest TV3 opinion poll but most of the polling was completed before the state-of-the-nation speech by National leader John Key.
Mr Key rocketed up the preferred Prime Minister poll to 24 per cent support,against Prime Minister Helen Clark's 35 per cent. Former National leader Don Brash was rated at 15 before resigning in November but had been as high as 25 per cent after his 2004 Orewa speech.
As far as the smaller parties were concerned, New Zealand First was on 2.8, Greens (8), Act (0.8), United Future (0.8) and the Maori Party (2).
Helen Clark outrated Mr Key on being a capable leader, good in a crisis and having sound judgment.
But she fell below Mr Key when it came to talking down to people and being out of touch with them.
Some 42 per cent of respondents believed Helen Clark was out of touch with ordinary people while 22 per cent believed the same of Mr Key. As far as being a capable leader was concerned, 84 per cent thought Helen Clark capable compared with 54 per cent for Mr Key.
The poll of 1000 eligible voters was conducted between January 24 and February 1 and has a margin of error of 3.1 per cent. The parties' results were of those who expressed a preference; 9 per cent were undecided.
The latest UMR Insight poll, also done before Mr Key's Burnside speech, had Labour on 43 per cent and National on 41. It had small increases for NZ First, Act and the Maori Party and small declines for the Greens and United Future.
