Latest poll: Christopher Luxon’s popularity crashes after allowance blunder, now trails Chris Hipkins

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has been dealt a blow as the Government wraps up its 100-day plan, with his favourability crashing 16 points in the latest monthly Taxpayers’ Union-Curia Poll.

That puts his net favourability at -5 per cent, well behind Labour leader Chris Hipkins on +2 per cent.

Act leader David Seymour rose 6 points to -8 per cent and NZ First leader Winston Peters rose 10 points to -22 per cent.

The poll was taken from last Sunday, meaning it captured the fallout from revelations Luxon had been claiming a $52,000 accommodation allowance in Wellington, despite owning an apartment in the city and having the use of Premier House. Luxon dug in, but eventually u-turned.

National’s popularity has dipped, but only slightly, down 2.2 points to 37.4 per cent. Labour is down 2.6 points to 25.3 per cent, its lowest performance in the poll, which began in January 2021.

The Greens are up 2.4 points to 11.3 per cent and Act is down 3.7 points to 10 per cent.

NZ First rose 2.4 points to 7.4 per cent and Te Pāti Māori was up less than a point to 2.5 per cent.

Those results would give National 48 seats, down one, and Labour 32 seats, down two, when compared to the last Taxpayers’ Union-Curia Poll.

The Greens would have 15 seats, up 4, and Act would have 13 seats, down four, when compared to the last poll.

NZ First would have nine seats, up three, and Te Pāti Māori would be unchanged on six seats, provided it held its electorates.

On these numbers, National and Act would require the support of NZ First to form a government due to the overhang seats increasing the size of Parliament.

The mood of the country appears to have soured on the Government. After a couple of months in which more Kiwis felt the country was on the “right track”, the right track-wrong track indicator tipped into negatives again, with net 3 per cent of people thinking NZ was on the wrong track.

More people disapprove of the Government than approve of it.

A net 3.9 per cent of people disapprove of the Government, a shift of 8.4 points on last month’s poll.

The poll was conducted from Sunday, March 3 to Tuesday, March 5. The median response was collected on Monday, March 4. The sample size was 1000 eligible New Zealand voters

Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.