Who's up and who's down? Party leaders react to new 1News poll

Party leaders have reacted to a declining Te Pāti Māori in the last 1News Verian poll of the year.

The poll showed support for Te Pāti Māori had dropped to 1% following weeks of negative publicity over disputes within the party.

The party recorded 7% in a poll just a year ago following a hīkoi that saw tens of thousands make their way to Parliament.

Both the Labour and National were up 3% and 2% respectively.

Support for ACT was up 2%, and support for the Green Party was down 4%.

New Zealand First was steady.

When asked about National’s result in the polls, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was “encouraging” to see progress.

“New Zealanders understand that we inherited a mess, and they know we have been fixing the basics and working incredibly hard to do that,” he said.

“I know it’s been a very tough and difficult time, so it’s encouraging to see that’s there’s been some progress.”

Luxon said he felt positive about the “fantastic future of the country”, and that was where his focus would remain going next year.

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Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he was pleased with his party's result.

"I'm really encouraged by the increase in support we've seen so far, but our job's not done. We've still got to get out there and work hard."

Despite National also being up, he suggested the party had been fighting amongst themselves.

"The National Party has an ongoing Game of Thrones internally. Goodness knows who will be leading them into the next election, but I look forward to meeting whomever that person is on the campaign trail."

But Hipkins saved his harshest critique for Te Pāti Māori following their fall to 1%.

"I think Te Pāti Māori clearly have lost a lot of the support that they were previously attracting. They've been in absolute shambles, and voters are deserting them."

When asked if he would rule them out, Hipkins said he would set that out closer to the election, but added, "at this point it's not even clear whether there will be a Māori party left to work with."

He said there wasn't much to read into the Greens' loss of support.

Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said there was not much to take from one poll.

"They bounce up and down, but what we're focused on is doing the mahi, and that means showing New Zealand is the kind of country that we can have if we build an economy that works for and supports people and planet," she said.

When asked if she needed to insert herself more into media, Swarbrick said: "I'd say it's not for lack of trying.

"We are consistently doing our best to articulate the solutions that are in front of us, but unfortunately, that's not the controversial stuff that grabs the headlines. We're not particularly interested in the culture war that this government is beating the drum of."

Swarbrick said she hoped Te Pāti Māori could sort its issues out.

"My view is that every single political party goes through its issues. And I think we've seen a lot of that on show over the last few years. So I'm hoping that Te Pāti Māori are able to address this stuff internally."

ACT leader David Seymour said he was pleased more people were supporting the party.

"We're driving a lot of change. Sometimes positions we've held for a decade, everyone was against us. Now the change is happening because people have come round."

Seymour declined to say why he thought that ACT had jumped ahead of New Zealand First, saying there was a lot of water to go under the bridge.

A couple of weeks ago, Seymour said that Peters looked like he was going to go with Labour again.

Today, he said, "I see he's changed those comments and that's a good thing."

On Te Pati Māori, Seymour said: "Well, they don't have a purpose. The ACT Party's done more for Māori through charter schools than Te Pati Māori's done in its entire existence."

New Zealand First and Te Pāti Māori declined to comment on the poll results.

Winston Peters was not available for an interview. He has previously expressed his dislike of polls, saying that he would "turn your polls into confetti" at the election.

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