No baby bump for Bridges

National leader Simon Bridges has failed to make any headway with voters in the absence of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, although New Zealand First and the Green Party have had a slight bounce in the latest 1 News Colmar Brunton poll.

Last night’s poll had National steady on 45 per cent support, the same as the May survey which was before Ardern took six weeks’ maternity leave.

Labour was down one point to 42 per cent, but the Greens and NZ First were both up a point, to 6 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. That puts NZ First right on the button for getting back into Parliament if an election was held now.

In the preferred Prime Minister stakes Ardern was on 40 per cent, down one point on the previous poll. That slight drop could be written off as a reflection of her lack of profile in the past six weeks.

But her stand-in, Deputy Prime Minister and NZ First leader Winston Peters got a slight bump, up one point as preferred PM to 5 per cent.

But it was Simon Bridges, who arguably should have made some hay while the sun shone without the shadow of Ardern blocking it, who fared worst.

At a time when his profile should have been getting more attention Bridges was down two points to just 10 per cent support as preferred PM.

That puts him back where he was in April, a month after taking over the leadership from Bill English.

The 1 News Colmar Brunton Poll canvassed 1007 voters.