Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in the studio with Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking.
Public approval ratings for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Labour leader Chris Hipkins have dropped in the latest 1News Verian poll.
The poll, released tonight, had Luxon with an approval rating of 38% while 52% disapproved of his performance. Ten % didn’t know or preferred not to say.
These figures give the Prime Minister a score of -14, his lowest approval rating as the country’s leader, according to the poll.
Slightly more people approved of Hipkins (42%) - his disapproval rate was 41% and 17% didn’t know or preferred not to say.
This gave Hipkins an overall score of +1 - his lowest approval score since the 2023 election, according to 1News.
“I think it’s important we get out there and we listen to New Zealanders.”
Party vote shows who’d hold power
As for the party vote, National remains steady on 34%, two points higher than Labour, down 1% to 32%.
The Green Party is up 1% to 11%.
NZ First and Act both remain steady on 9% and 8%, respectively. Meanwhile, Te Pāti Māori is on 3%, down one point.
Winston Peters & David Seymour. Photo illustration. 23 November 2023 New Zealand Herald photograph
Based on these numbers, National would score 42 seats – down seven – while Labour would have 40 seats in Parliament, up six.
The Green Party would get 14, NZ First would have 12 seats and Act would have nine.
Te Pāti Māori would retain their six MPs.
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - OCTOBER 09: Te Pati Maori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi during their reset announcement at Parliament, Wellington, 09 October, 2025. (Mark Mitchell/New Zealand Herald/NZME)
In total, the current Government would have 63 seats, while the left-wing bloc would have 60.
The 1News Verian poll surveyed 1014 eligible voters from October 4 to October 8.
The previous 1News Verian poll in August had National leading at 34% with Labour close behind on 33%. The Green Party was third with 10%, NZ First at 9%, Act on 8% and Te Pāti Māori on 4%.
Last week’s poll shows National dropping
In last week’s Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll conducted between October 1-5, National came in at 29.6, having dropped 3.5 points on the polling outfit’s previous poll.
Labour held the biggest share of support with 31.2%, even after dropping 2.6 points.
NZ First gained 2.5 points to reach 10.6%. Act dropped slightly, by 0.1, to 6.6%.
The Green Party jumped 1.3 points to reach 12%, and Te Pāti Māori moved up by 0.1 to 4.4%.
Translating these results into seats in the House, the centre-left bloc would have 61 seats, enough to govern, while the centre-right would have 59.
