Party leaders have put their own spin on the latest 1News Verian poll, which found steady support for most parties but falling favourability for Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins.
The coalition would hold 63 seats if an election were held today, enough to form a government over the left bloc’s 60 seats, according to tonight’s poll.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s approval rating fell to -14, his lowest while holding the top office, while Hipkins dropped to +1, his worst result since the 2023 election. The poll of 1014 eligible voters was conducted between October 4 and 8.
Leaders of the National and Labour parties are failing to gel with the voting public according to the latest 1News Verian poll. (Source: 1News)
Speaking to 1News today, Luxon brushed off his lowest approval rating as prime minister, emphasising his Government’s work was “not really about me”.
“It’s actually about me making sure I lead a team that does the job for New Zealanders”.
Asked about his opposition counterpart’s rating, the National Party leader added: “Look again, I don’t comment on polls.”
Labour leader Chris Hipkins also dismissed his personal polling results, attributing his decline in favourability to the nature of opposition leadership.
“Being leader of the opposition, you expect your ratings to take a bit of a hit,” he said.
“It’s a more negative job, but we’re focused on making sure we’re getting Labour ready to win the next election.”
New policy promises
Hipkins said new Labour policies would be coming shortly, promising “some big, bold new ideas before the next election”. He added: “People will see a few policy announcements for us this year, but most of our policy will be next year.”
1News Verian Poll: Leader approval ratings plummet as economic confidence drops, watch on TVNZ+
ACT leader David Seymour said his party’s consistent 8% result showed a steady hand.
“It’s the methane targets, the earthquake laws, the Holidays Act — you see the ACT Party out there fixing what matters every day. I believe in the long term, that pays off.”
Asked about New Zealand First jumping ahead of ACT from 5% to 9%, Seymour said he was “much more focused on our relationship with the people who support ACT”.
Greens co-leader Marama Davidson welcomed her party’s slight uptick, saying her party was “the party coming up with the vision, with the solutions”.
“In the Budget speech, the Prime Minister spent most of his speech talking about who? Talking about the Green Party,” she said.
Davidson acknowledged the party had experienced a “rough” and “challenging time” following MP Benjamin Doyle’s resignation and the departure of two staff in recent months, but said it was “ordinary” for people to reflect before an election year.
Winston rejects poll
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters repeated his longstanding stance on dismissing the accuracy of polls, calling the system “tripe”.
“We’re going to turn the polls that you’ve got into confetti,” Peters told 1News.
Despite his party nearly doubling its support in the past year, according to 1News’ polls, Peters said “things are far stronger for us than you think”.
Peters added: “We understand hundreds of thousands of forgotten New Zealanders – their plight and what they need to help them get going forward”.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said the party had been “focused on the overarching polls for the whole term” and on changing the Government.
“Polls are going up and down, but for us, there’s been a consistent message that there is a desire for change. That’s what we heard on the ground all the time.”
When asked about recent public rifts within the party, she said: “It’s been a tough ride. I mean, you know, politics isn’t for the light-hearted, and we’ve had exponential growth.”
The poll of 1014 eligible voters showed the coalition would hold 63 seats if an election were held today, enough to form a government over the left bloc’s 60 seats.
Full results
Party vote
National – 34% (Steady since August)
Labour – 32% (down 1%)
Green – 11% (up 1%)
New Zealand First – 9% (steady)
ACT – 8% (steady)
Te Pāti Māori – 3% (down 1%)
The Opportunities Party (TOP) – 1% (steady)
Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party- 1% (up 1%)
Don’t know / refused to say – 11% (down 1%)
Seats in the House
National – 42
Labour – 40
Greens – 14
New Zealand First – 12
ACT – 9
Te Pāti Māori – 6
Total: 123
Preferred prime minister
Christopher Luxon – 21% (up 1%)
Chris Hipkins – 18% (down 1%)
Winston Peters – 8% (up 1%)
Chlöe Swarbrick – 6% (up 2%)
David Seymour – 5% (up 1%)
See the full results and methodology here
Luxon approval here, Hipkins approval here
Between October 4 and October 8 2025, 1014 eligible voters were polled by mobile phone (500) and online, using online panels (502). The maximum sampling error is approximately ±3.1%-points at the 95% confidence level. Party support percentages have been rounded up or down to whole numbers, except those less than 4.5%, which are reported to one decimal place. The data has been weighted to align with Stats NZ population counts for age, gender, region, ethnic identification and education level. The sample for mobile phones is selected by random dialling using probability sampling, and the online sample is collected using an online panel. Undecided voters, non-voters and those who refused to answer are excluded from the data on party support. The results are a snapshot in time of party support, and not a prediction.
