Party leaders react to poll: Kiwis not 'focused on' politics

Key points

Political leaders have been quick to dismiss attempts to read deeply into the latest 1News Verian poll, which showed little movement in the party vote.

In the poll released tonight, the vote shares remained mostly steady for parties.

If the results were repeated at an election, the coalition government would retain its power with 64 total seats. It would be down from the 68 it currently holds in Parliament.

Opposition parties would hold 58 seats, assuming Te Pāti Māori holds an electorate seat.

The number of seats held between government and opposition blocs are entirely unchanged from the last 1News poll in June, which also showed a 64-58 split.

The Greens were the only party, currently with MPs, to see a vote share drop, falling 2% from the June 1News poll.

National remained at 38%, the same as its previous poll result. ACT and New Zealand First also stayed the same. Labour was up 1% to 30%, while Te Pāti Māori was on 4%, also up 1%.

Prime Minister and National Party leader Christopher Luxon said he "didn't read too much" into polls. He was asked why the coalition wasn't rising in popularity.

He responded: "For us, as the Government taking on tough decisions and having to clean up a hell of a mess, I think we're working exceptionally hard.

"We're very focused on the New Zealand people, making sure we do the things that actually improve their daily lives and make it easier to get from paycheck to paycheck."

Since the last poll, Darleen Tana resigned from the Green Party and became an independent MP, after allegations of migrant worker exploitation emerged at her husband's business in March.

Members of their former party have been deliberating whether to trigger waka-jumping legislation to remove Tana from Parliament.

Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick acknowledged the "rough" year her party had.

"We'll be the first to acknowledge that it's been a really rough year, and we've been doing everything that we can to stay focused on the kaupapa that's in front of us, in order to uphold people and planet," she told 1News.

Asked whether people were getting tired of the Greens' scandals, Swarbrick said: "You'd have to ask the people of that."

In January, MP Golriz Ghahraman resigned after it emerged she shoplifted from boutique clothing stores. At the end of that month, co-leader James Shaw announced he would be moving on, which also opened the door for Swarbrick to take the co-leadership.

In March, Tana was suspended pending an independent investigation into her actions relating to her husband's business. In May, MP Julie Anne Genter brought disrepute to the Greens, when she crossed the floor to scream in the face of a government minister.

Asked about restoring public confidence in her party, Swarbrick said: "We note that this is just one poll. Following on from that, we continue to focus on the kaupapa that has been central to the Green Party for three decades now."

New Zealand First leader and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters was also asked about his reaction to the poll.

"I don't give a darn about your 1News poll, cause it's not worth the paper or the air it's written on," he said. "If your polls are accurate, I wouldn't be here. But I'm here, aren't I?"

Peters' NZ First would lose one seat on the results in the poll.

Meanwhile, Te Pati Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said she was more concerned about what she was hearing on the ground than polls.

"Polls will come and go. You know, we will always take the response from our people on the ground before we deal with polls. I don't take any real heed of that, to be honest."

ACT remained at 7%, meaning its seat entitlement would drop from 11 seats to 8.

Party leader David Seymour said he was "always disappointed" when his party's vote share wasn't going up, but he wasn't surprised by the fact it stayed the same.

"There are other polls that have ACT higher, some have ACT lower. The truth is that right across the political spectrum, there's very little movement," he said.

"No one much is changing their vote, I suspect, because people are so focused on the cost of living, getting through the winter."

Labour leader Chris Hipkins was asked why the coalition remained steady in the polling, despite his efforts as opposition leader.

"The polls bounce around quite a bit at the moment. Ultimately, I don't think a lot of people are focused on the political dialogue at this point in the electoral cycle," he said.

Hipkins added: "People will start to focus on the next election, probably sometime next year. Not really right about now."

He said this year was about "listening" for Labour when asked if he was doing enough in being the opposition to the Government.

"We always said that this year was about listening," Hipkins said.

"It was about making sure that we were doing a good job of holding the government to account, but also that we were focused on changing ourselves.

"New Zealanders didn't vote for us last election, which means we need to change.

"What you're seeing, certainly in the new year, is quite a changed Labour Party from the one that contested the last election."

On Luxon's improved preferred prime minister numbers, he said: "You'd expect the Prime Minister, who's on the news every day to be more visible than the leader of the opposition who isn't. I think that these numbers just simply reflect that."

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