Labour leader Chris Hipkins has taken responsibility for the latest poor poll result but has vowed to fight on, saying his party has only just started campaigning.
With the election just 32 days away, the latest Newshub-Reid Research poll was grim reading for Labour.
The poll revealed on Monday showed support for Labour had dropped significantly, down 5.5 points to 26.8 percent.
On the other side, National will be happy after it improved 4.3 points to 40.9 percent, while ACT fell 2 points to 10.1 percent.
It means a coalition of National and ACT would comfortably form a government based on Newshub's poll result, getting 66 seats. A coalition of Labour/Greens/Te Pāti Māori are well short of the 61 seats needed to win, only getting 50.
Hipkins, responding to the poll on AM on Tuesday, admitted the results are not where the party would like them.
He told AM co-host Ryan Bridge he takes responsibility for the result but added Labour's campaign has just begun.
"Clearly the polls are not where we want them to be and I accept responsibility for that. I am the leader of the Labour Party and I have a job now to turn those numbers around in the next five weeks as we are out and about on the campaign trail," he said.
"We want to see those numbers going up. I acknowledge a lot of that support that is flowing back to National is actually coming from ACT rather than our side of the political aisle but Labour's numbers are not where I want them to be. They're not where we need to be to win, so we need to work really hard to get them back up again."
It comes despite Labour announcing major policies that have failed to lift their results, which are at levels not seen since Andrew Little was leader.
When asked what Labour will do differently, Hipkins said Labour's campaign is just starting compared to other parties who've been campaigning for months.
"We were a bit later getting into the campaign. We've had some big challenges as a government that we've been dealing with and now we're on the campaign trail, a bit unshackled from that," he said.
"I've got that opportunity to get out there and talk about the things I want to do, my vision for the country and yes, we are going to be talking about the risk of a change of government."
Hipkins stayed true to his line about the coalition involving National, ACT and New Zealand First as one of "chaos and cuts" that "simply can't make the numbers add up".
When asked whether a coalition of a left or right bloc would be more stable, Hipkins told AM Labour could work strongly with Greens and Te Pāti Māori.
"I believe we've had a very stable governing arrangement with the Green Party over the last six years and I believe we would be able to continue that," he said.
"If you look at the Māori Party's track record in government, they supported a John Key-led government for nine years, so I believe they can actually provide stability in Government."
Newshub's Political Editor Jenna Lynch told AM on Tuesday looking back on it, Labour should have called a snap election.
She described the result as "terrible" and said Labour is on track for a "historic hiding" unless something "miraculous" happens.
"Thinking back to Jacinda Ardern's resignation, why did she not give him the opportunity to set the election date himself?" Lynch said.
"Why did she do that and take that option off the table for him by setting the election date because looking back at his polling as soon as he took over as Prime Minister, they got an instant bump in those polls.
"It looked like he could turn it around. You kind of get this honeymoon period as a new leader and if they had gone at the start of the year, look things might've been a little bit different."
Lynch added Hipkins has had a turbulent period as Prime Minister with a lot of issues outside of his control.
"The constant rolling through of all of those ministerial scandals, he has not had an easy ride as Prime Minister and a lot of it wasn't actually his own fault," she told AM.
"So should he have gone for a snap? Looking back now, hindsight is 20/20."
Watch the full interview with Chris Hipkins in the video above.
