If the ACT Party continues its rise ahead of the election, leader David Seymour says it's still unlikely they'd work with Labour.
"I can't see it," Seymour told The AM Show on Monday. "They have a skills shortage. The fact that Chris Hipkins has to be the Minister of Health and Education shows they do not have the skills to plot a path."
ACT is polling at 6.3 percent, according to the latest Newshub-Reid Research poll, while Labour has a decent chance at governing alone with support at 50.1 percent. National, who ACT worked alongside in the previous John Key Government, remains at just 29.9 percent.
But Seymour believes ACT and Labour are too incompatible to work together, meaning they'll likely remain in Opposition. If poll results are accurate, they'll have about eight MPs - up by seven, as Seymour is currently the party's lone-MP.
Seymour, however, doesn't think the election is a foregone conclusion. He doesn't have much faith in the Green Party, which is polling at 6.5 percent.
"I think the Greens will be gone on the night," he told The AM Show.
But he said if ACT does end up in Opposition, there will be a stronger voice "to hold them all accountable".
"The world has changed [and] our small island nation has to change with it and ACT has been there all the way through saying, 'we've got to get Taiwan-smart about our public health response, we've got to get honest about the debt'."
New Zealand First, meanwhile, is losing support to ACT and is polling at 1.9 percent - lower than the New Conservatives and nowhere near enough to get back into Parliament.
Data shows 12.9 percent of previous New Zealand First voters from 2017 are intending to give their party vote to ACT.
"I think we're going to make a lot better progress if we don't have New Zealand First in the next Parliament," Seymour said.
NZ First leader Winston Peters said on Sunday he was feeling confident despite poll results.
"You're going to look stupid on election night, that's the feeling I'm getting," Peters said.
"I don't have any regard to your polls," he added.
