Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he is not contemplating when he will resign as leader after a poll showed his preferred prime minister result tank by 10%.
The 1News Verian poll, released tonight, showed Hipkins’ result drop from 25% just before the October election to 15% in this polling for the period of February 10 to 14.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s result remained at 25% — the same as in the previous poll, which ran from October 7 to 10, 2023.
Hipkins said the result wasn’t what he experienced "on the ground" and people had seen less of him in recent months.
“There’s still a very strong level of support that I’m getting when I’m out and about.”
He said polls fluctuated and what mattered was the next election.
Hipkins said the point at which he should resign as leader was "certainly not something that I’m contemplating".
"Naturally, I’d love it to be higher but I also accept that I’m not the prime minister and therefore I’m not in the media as much."
Hipkins said Labour would work very hard in Opposition, although people hadn’t "heard much from us in the last couple of months since the election".
"They’ll rightly be expecting that we’ll be reflecting on the election loss … and that we’ll come back with something new to say in due course."
Hipkins said he thought Labour’s party vote result in the poll — 28%, up 1% from the election — was in line with what was to be expected four months after the vote.
"Generally speaking, people give a new government that they’ve just voted for a benefit of the doubt.
"The Government hasn’t really done much yet, other than repealing and stopping and cancelling things that the previous government were doing."
He said people were "a bit concerned about the shaky start" the Government had had.
"I don’t expect to see the polls shift dramatically in the first year of a new government. They never have before and I don’t think they will this time, either.
"I don’t think New Zealand voters are that fickle, I don’t think they change their minds that quickly."
He said Labour would aim to poll "significantly better" heading into the next election than it was now.
National holding steady
The poll also showed National steady from the election with 28% of the party vote, ACT on 8% — down 1%, and the Greens and New Zealand First steady on 12% and 6% respectively.
Luxon said he was not "fixated" on polls but focused on "getting things done for the New Zealand people".
"I’m very proud of the start the coalition Government’s made, we’ve got a very good plan for the first 100 days. We’ll roll out of that into another quarterly plan. It’s important we just power through these actions and get things done.”
He said he had "thoroughly enjoyed" working with two coalition partners and got along well with both ACT leader David Seymour and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.
“It’s actually been very constructive. Llike anything, there’s compromise within a caucus, within an existing party, let alone between parties.
“We’ve got good processes in place when we’ve got differences, we raise those early, in advance. But most importantly, to be honest, there hasn’t been a need for that.”
He said it was for Hipkins to comment on his drop in his preferred prime minister poll result.
Minor parties divided over impact of Treaty Principles bill
ACT leader David Seymour said the poll was almost identical to the election result and people knew the Government had “big challenges” and was waiting to see it “get stuck in and solve them”.
He said around the Cabinet table ACT felt a lot of responsibility to those who voted for them and all New Zealanders.
“We also feel like we’re making progress towards fulfilling the promises that we gave people before the election.”
He said the coalition Government worked together very well.
After a lot of coverage so far this year on ACT’s Treaty Principles bill, Seymour said people had had a chance to understand where the party was coming from and the party had been able to “advance the argument and we’ve held our ground”.
He didn’t think the party’s 1% drop in the party vote in the poll was related to that discussion and to think so would be reading too much into it.
“We’re putting forward a proposition that many people know needs to be discussed and that’s, what does our Treaty mean? Is it a divider between two races in partnership or is it a uniter of all New Zealanders having the same rights and duties?”
Te Pāti Māori had the most significant jump in the poll, up from 3% on election night to almost 4%. It’s close to the party’s highest poll ever, which was 4.4% in 2008.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said the poll reflected “what we’re seeing on the ground”.
“We’re seeing a huge movement, huge unity for us as Māori, tangata whenua, tangata tiriti.
“It’s a good outcome.”
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said the poll showed there was no evidence of any growth of public support for political parties trying to “stamp all over te Tiriti”.
“Even with the rocky start that we have had, I am pleased to see we are well above our election night success, which was the biggest success we’ve ever seen.”
She was pleased ACT had taken a “hit” in the poll, because it showed honouring the Treaty “prevails” in New Zealand.
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