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.

Presented with the latest poll figures, Luxon said he was just focused on his job – “which is to make sure I deliver for the New Zealand people.”

“It’s not really about me, it’s about me making sure I lead a team that does the job for New Zealanders.”

Hipkins told 1News he didn’t “read much into” the rating, saying “being leader of the Opposition, you expect your ratings to take a bit of a hit”.

“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.

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.

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.

It comes after a Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll last week put National below 30% and Opposition parties able to form a government.

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.

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.