NZ First Minister Shane Jones has popped up in the preferred Prime Minister ranks for the first time in more than a decade, the latest figures from the 1 News-Verian poll shows.

At the same time, although current Prime Minister Christopher Luxon remains at the top of the ranking at 20%, he has taken a 3% hit since the last 1 News-Verian poll – his worst result since taking office.

A point behind Luxon is Labour leader Chris Hipkins, who remains steady on 19%.

NZ First leader Winston Peters got a 1% boost, sitting on 7%. Greens leader Chlöe Swarbrick is down 1%, sitting on 4%. Act leader David Seymour is steady on 4%.

And Jones has joined the preferred PM leaderboard, sitting on 1%.

For the party vote, National is on 34%, only a point ahead of the opposition. Labour gained 4% in the latest poll, sitting at 33%.

The Green Party is down 2% to 10% while NZ First continues its upward trajectory, gaining 1% in the party vote to 9%. No movement for Act and Te Pāti Māori who both sit on 8% and 4%, respectively.

It comes after the Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll this morning showed the race between the centre-left and centre-right were neck-and-neck.

On those results, Labour had the most support on 33.6% (up 2 points), National was on 31.8% (down 2.1) and the Greens were up 0.4 to 9.8%.

Act dropped 0.5 to 8.6%, New Zealand First was down 2 points to 7.8% and Te Pāti Māori fell 0.3 to 3.2%. Just over 6% were undecided.

Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Converting those results into seats in the House, Labour would have 43, National would have 40, the Greens would have 12, Act would have 11, New Zealand First would have 10 and Te Pāti Māori would get six (presuming they kept their electorate seats).

This would put both the centre-left and the centre-right on 61 seats, meaning no side would have a majority to govern.

Looking at the Preferred Prime Minister stakes, National’s Christopher Luxon was up 0.5 to 20.2%, matched by Labour’s Chris Hipkins (who was up 0.6).

NZ First leader Winston Peters was down 1.1 points to 8.2%, the Greens’ Chlöe Swarbrick was up 1 point to 8%, and Act leader David Seymour was up 0.5 to 6.2%.

Lara Greaves, associate professor in politics at Victoria University of Wellington, told Herald Now this morning that a first-term government would be expected to be polling better, but Labour also had work to do, with it yet to release any policies.

The latest Taxpayers’ Union-Curia Poll was taken between August 3-5. The poll, conducted by phone and online, had a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

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