Simon Bridges is still confident he will lead National into the September election despite dropping below 5 percent as preferred Prime Minister.
The latest Newshub-Reid Research Poll shows Jacinda Ardern is New Zealand's most popular Prime Minister in a century and Opposition leader Simon Bridges is hurtling into political oblivion.
No leader has ever been as popular in our preferred Prime Minister stakes as Ardern - 59.5 percent, up an astounding 20.8 points.
As for Bridges, the country doesn't want him anywhere near the ninth floor - just 4.5 percent of Kiwis back him, down 6.1 points - that's more than half his support wiped.
It puts him close to National MP Judith Collins again who's on 3.1 percent, though she's also down 0.7 points.
"It speaks to the work we've jointly done," Ardern told Newshub. "I just happen to have had the humble and privileged opportunity to be leading at this time."
Bridges is blaming his popularity plummet on being frozen out of any coverage for months.
His Zoom Epidemic Response Committee hearings have not got him the attention he so desperately needs.
"We've seen lockdown wall to wall coverage of the Government," he told Newshub.
When Bridges did make headlines it was often for the wrong reasons, such as the Facebook post with tens of thousands of negative comments.
He also caused unrest in his caucus with his very political response to the Government's COVID-19 support package announced in March, when he had a crack at beneficiaries being "baked in".
But Bridges doesn't see himself going anywhere.
He told Newshub he "absolutely" will be National leader come the September 19 election.
"We don't talk about our internal polls but we are where we are right now - polls jump around."
On numbers like Ardern's, it's no wonder her office felt cocky enough to send a gag order to all ministers after a Friday afternoon COVID-19 document dump.
The Prime Minister is promising to nix the arrogance, telling Newshub she takes nothing for granted.
"I'm taking nothing for granted. The fact that I'm making no assumptions about what will be the end outcome will be on Election Day should be a nod to that."
The Newshub-Reid Research Poll was conducted between 8-16 May with half of the responses taken after the Budget. The poll has a maximum sample error of +/- 3.1 percent.
