ℙ𝕦𝕓𝕝𝕚𝕔 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕞𝕒𝕪𝕖𝕕 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕠𝕞𝕪, 𝕒𝕤 𝔾𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕦𝕘𝕘𝕝𝕖𝕤 𝕚𝕟 𝕡𝕠𝕝𝕝

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℕ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝-𝕔𝕠𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝔾𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕤𝕝𝕚𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕕 𝕓𝕖𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕃𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖𝕝𝕪 𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕡𝕠𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝 𝕡𝕠𝕝𝕝, 𝕨𝕙𝕚𝕔𝕙 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕨𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕦𝕓𝕝𝕚𝕔’𝕤 𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕠𝕞𝕪 𝕚𝕤 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘.

A

poll by Labour’s pollster, Talbot Mills Research, for the firm’s corporate clients that has been obtained by The Post shows the coalition parties — National, ACT, and NZ First — lacking sufficient public support to form a Government, if an election were held today. The next election is in 2026.

The poll showed Labour-Greens-Te Pāti Māori together would have a one seat edge in the House, presuming Te Pāti Māori once again won six electorate seats, and NZ First remained aligned with the centre-right parties.

It was the first such outcome for the centre-left bloc in this poll since June 2023, however shifts in the polling were within the margin of error of 3.1%.

.

.

The result is unlikely to be a shock to the Government. It echoes recent polls which have shown overall the coalition parties have not succeeded in substantially improving their public support, compared to the result of the October election, including a 1News-Verian poll which showed NZ First lacked enough support to re-enter Parliament. Other polls have shown the Government parties retain an edge.

With all his ebullience & PR & sloganizing, surely @chrisluxonmp & his #CoalitionOfCatastrophe should be riding highint the polls? https://t.co/j9kqizod0q

— Veronica Glamis Aotearoa💃💃💃💃 (@VeronicaGlamis) May 17, 2024

While the support for political parties has not varied greatly in recent months, there had been a shift in how New Zealanders felt the country was faring.

Some 52% of those polled said the country was on the “wrong track”, up from 41% in February. Whereas, 38% thought the country was headed in the “right direction” and 10% were unsure.

More also felt economic conditions were poor or “not so good”, at 84%, an increase of 11 percentage points from February. There was a corresponding drop in the percentage of those surveyed who thought the economy was “good” or “excellent”, from 25% in February to 16% this month.

The poll, taken during the first 10 days of May, comes after months of Government spending cuts in advance of the Budget, including culling thousands of public sector jobs

Asked about their concern over public sector cuts and their impact on the quality of public services, 60% of those surveyed said they were either “moderately concerned” or “very concerned”.

.

.

This concern was elevated among supporters of Labour, the Green Party, and Tē Pāti Māori. The majority of National, ACT, and NZ First supporters were either “not at all concerned” or “a bit concerned”.

Country CEO Luxon has also been unable to match the favourability rating of the past three elected prime ministers, six months into a new Government. His net favourability, at 42%, falls short of the same rating for Jacinda Ardern at 75%, John Key at 64%, and Helen Clark at 77%.

It was also lower than Labour leader Chris Hipkins’ net favourability, according to this poll, which stood at 52%.

Hipkins also achieved the “highly unusual feat” of drawing equal with Luxon in the question of who was the preferred prime minister, which both gaining the support of 25% of those surveyed.

.