Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins. Photo: RNZ
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has overtaken Christopher Luxon as preferred prime minister, and the centre-left bloc would be able to form a government based on results in the latest Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll.
The poll, conducted between 2-4 March, showed National up 1.7 points to 33.6 percent, and Labour up 2.8 points to 34.1 percent.
The Greens dropped 3.2 points to 10 percent, while ACT declined 2.3 points to 7.7 percent.
New Zealand First was down 1.3 points to 5.1 percent, while Te Pāti Māori was up 2.1 points to 6.5 percent.
On these numbers, the centre-right block would not be able to form a government.
Compared to the results in February the monthly poll had the centre-right bloc dropping a seat to 58, while the centre-left bloc gained one to make 62 seats. The magic number needed to form a government was 61 seats.
Broken down, National and Labour both gained three seats each to collect 42 - Te Pāti Māori was the only other party to make gains, up two seats to eight.
The Greens lost four seats, dropping to 12, ACT dropped two seats to 10 and New Zealand First fell two seats to six.
The centre-left bloc remained the preferred government for female voters polled, ahead on 59 percent compared to 39 percent for the centre-right. Overall, males preferred a centre-right bloc - albeit with a smaller margin of 53 percent to 43 percent for centre-left.
And for the first time since the election, Hipkins was ahead of Luxon as preferred prime minister in this poll. Luxon dropped slightly to 20.3 percent, while Hipkins rose 3.1 points to 20.7 percent.
Winston Peters. Photo: Samuel Rillstone
David Seymour fell to 5 percent, Winston Peters rose slightly to 8.6 percent, and Chlöe Swarbrick fell 4.1 points to 4.8 percent.
The net favourability breakdown for the poll was not good news for Luxon, the prime minister registering -10 percent to Hipkins +4 percent.
Seymour's net favourability was -28 percent, while Peters' was -1 percent.
In terms of whether the country is tracking in the right or wrong direction - 35.6 percent of those polled believed New Zealand was headed in the right direction (up 1.4 points) while 48.9 percent said it was headed in the wrong direction (down 1.1 points).
Taxpayers' Union spokesman James Ross summed up the poll as "more bad news for the coalition government".
"Kiwis elected this government to fix the economic mess. Unless the government starts delivering meaningful growth, the polls are only going to show them slip further.
"Luxon losing his top spot as preferred prime minister for the first time has to be a wake-up call. We're neck-deep in the worst economic downturn in three decades, and the country needs to see a plan to rebuild the economy."
The poll was based on a sample of 1000 respondents and had a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.
Curia is a longstanding polling company, but is no longer a member of the Research Association NZ body.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
