Judith Collins has no plans to stand down as National leader after a dismal poll result which saw her popularity plummet.
The latest Newshub-Reid Research poll revealed Collins had tumbled down the preferred Prime Minister rankings, scraping just 5.6 percent compared to Jacinda Ardern's 48.1 percent.
Collins, who dropped by a significant 12.8 points, was ranked even below former Prime Minister Sir John Key, who amassed 6.7 percent - despite no longer working as a politician. But the National Party vote has nudged up 1.4 percentage points to 27 percent.
Collins told The AM Show on Wednesday she isn't worried by the results.
"The fact is that it's 2.5 years out from an election and it's not much different from another news agency's poll in March - it's not particularly a big surprise.
"That's what happens when you're just after an election and people are still talking about COVID-19 and the lack of vaccines."
She said she has faith her party will do better in polls closer to the election if she continues to do her job as Opposition leader.
"If we all work well together, if we continue to hold the Government to account, if we continue to ask tough questions - things will work out as they always do.
"Every Opposition goes through tough times and ultimately, this far out from an election most people are not that engaged in politics."
She has no plans to step down as leader, pointing to the increase in party popularity as a good sign.
"That's not something I am even contemplating. I am actually really enjoying the job, the Caucus is extremely supportive and we have our work cut out holding the Government to account," she said.
But it seems the current approach isn't working. The poll showed Labour is keeping its majority stranglehold on Parliament on 52.7 percent, up 2.7 points on the election result.
The smaller parties have dropped slightly with the Green Party on 7.1 percent - down 0.8 - and ACT just below on 6.9 percent, down 0.7. The Māori Party's party vote remained the same on 1.2 percent.
The poll was conducted between May 7-13 with a margin of error of 3.1 percent.
