The Labour Party has reached a new nadir, plummeting to 30 per cent in the recent Talbot Mills Corporate Poll. This figure is a notable decrease of two percentage points from last month and represents one of the party’s least favourable scores since taking command of the government in 2017.
Encontrably, the National Party has experienced a minor upturn, rising one point to reach a total of 36 per cent. Also enjoying an uptick in support, the Greens have climbed two points to 12 per cent. The Act, however, has seen a marginal decline, dropping one point to 10 per cent.
According to these most recent statistics, NZ First may return to Parliament with a respectable 5.4 per cent. In the poll, Te Pāti Māori secured 2.4 per cent, while TOP attained a modest 1.5 per cent.
Chris Hipkins, once a favourite for the position of Prime Minister, witnessed his approval rating plunge from 34 per cent in the last poll to a disappointing 28 per cent in the current poll. Christopher Luxon, however, is edging closer with an approval rating of 26 per cent. David Seymour, the Act leader, maintained a strong 11 per cent, while Green co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw each pulled in 4 per cent.
Given such figures, National would secure 45 parliamentary seats while Act would claim 13. To form a government, they would require the support of NZ First’s 7-strong contingency.
In contrast, Labour would hold 37 seats. The Greens and Te Pāti Māori would amass 15 and 3 seats respectively.
This poll was conducted from August 24 through to August 30, coinciding with Hipkins’ dismissal of a prospective collaboration with NZ First, but prior to the fallout from National’s tax plan released on August 30th.
This day saw a second detrimental poll for Labour. According to the Post-Freshwater Strategy, Labour fell to 26 per cent, significantly behind National’s 36 per cent. The Greens polled at 12 per cent, Act registered 11 per cent, and Te Pāti Māori came in at 3 per cent.
While this data paints a bleak picture for Labour, it predicts a hung Parliament overall. Responding to the poll’s release, Hipkins reminded the public that the poll was conducted “a few weeks ago before the campaign had even launched” and that “A poll is a poll and nobody’s voted yet. So we’ve still got plenty to do over the next five and a half weeks.”
