Poll: Luxon’s PM rating drops again, continuing trend of his time in office

The latest 1News Verian poll, released this morning, confirms Christopher Luxon’s unpopularity as prime minister.

The National Party leader’s preferred prime minister rating has dropped a further percentage point since June to just 17%.

Luxon does, however, remain ahead of Labour’s Chris Hipkins, who is on 15%, also down one, in today's poll results.

Potential National leader Erica Stanford is on 2%, with Chris Bishop on 1%.

NZ First leader Winston Peters is down three to 7% compared to the last poll in June. That comes after controversial exchanges with China-born MP Lawrence Xu-Na, which led Luxon to say Peters’ comments were racist.

The Greens’ Chloe Swarbrick is steady on 6%, while ACT’s David Seymour is up one on 5%.

The poll was conducted from August 8-11 with a sample size of 847 and 1News will have full results, including the standing of the parties, later in the day.

An analysis of 1News Verian poll data since the last election shows Luxon's preferred prime minister ratings have been historically low throughout his time in office.

Politicians in the top job who come to power through an election usually enjoy public support early in their time in office - think Helen Clark, John Key and Jacinda Ardern.

For example, Key rose in support from 40% to 51% as preferred prime minister in the February following the 2008 election.

And, following the swearing-in of Ardern's 2017 coalition government, she also posted a 10-point lift in her preferred prime minister numbers by the following February.

Ratings then tend to drop in a second or third term.

But Luxon has never been beyond 28% in terms of the percentage of voters saying they prefer him to be prime minister, and sometimes he has been in the teens.

In the last Verian poll in June, he rated at just 18%, though this was slightly higher than his Labour rival Chris Hipkins, who was at 16%.

The animated graphic above shows how voters surveyed by Verian have rated Luxon and the other potential prime ministers in each poll since the 2023 election.