Nats, Act in driver’s seat, Luxon gains on PM

National and Act have a clear majority in last night’s 1 News-Kantar poll and could govern alone.

National is on 38 per cent, up 1 point, Labour is on 33 per cent, down 1 point. Act is on 11 per cent, up 2 points.

The Green Party was steady on

9 per cent.

National would have 49 seats on that poll, with Act having 15 seats.

Labour would have 42 seats, with the Greens adding 7 and Te Pati Mā ori would have 3 seats.

Jacinda Ardern’s preferred prime minister ranking is on 29 per cent, with Christopher Luxon on 23, closing the gap with Ardern.

Luxon told TVNZ the result shows people want a “Government that gets things done”.

It is the closest Luxon has ever been to Ardern in the preferred prime minister ranking.

It was the lowest preferred prime minister ranking for Ardern since she became Labour leader.

According to the poll, New Zealanders felt pessimistic in the face of the cost-of-living crisis.

Asked whether New Zealand will be in a worse economic state in the next year, 61 per cent of respondents said the economy world be worse, just 18 per cent said better and 21 per cent said it would be the same.

Ardern yesterday said “there is no question that right now we are as a country going through some very particular issues that rightly and understandably are of interest to voters”.

The most recent 1 News-Kantar poll was taken in September.

It had National in the lead on 37 per cent with Labour trailing on 34 per cent. The Greens and Act both polled 9 per cent with Te Pati Mā ori polling 1.6 per cent.

The poll comes as Labour faces a challenge to win the seat of Hamilton West, which it won in the 2020 election, but lost following the decision to eject rogue MP Gaurav Sharma.

Labour’s Georgie Dansey is going up against National’s Tama Potaka to win the seat.

Polling day is Saturday. Potaka is the favourite to win, according to a new poll.

The Taxpayers’ Union/The Working Group Curia poll of 400 people found 46 per cent of decided voters would vote for Potaka, compared to 33 per cent for Dansey.