A new poll shows ACT's support rising amid heated Treaty of Waitangi debate.
Meanwhile on the other end of the political spectrum, Green Party support has slumped after both Golriz Ghahraman and James Shaw announced they were resigning from their roles.
The latest New Zealand Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll was carried out between February 1-7, a period dominated by two political events - Waitangi Day and shock resignations inside the Green Party.
On January 16 - two weeks before the start of the polling period - MP Golriz Ghahraman announced she was quitting Parliament after she was accused of shoplifting from two different boutique stores.
Then on January 30, James Shaw announced his resignation as co-leader of the Green Party.
There was also the tumultuous lead-up to Waitangi Day on February 6, with widespread protests and marches.
ACT's proposed Treaty Principles Bill, which aims to define the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, has become the focal point of Māori discontent with the coalition Government.
But this backlash doesn't appear to have hampered National or ACT, with the poll showing major gains for the right.
According to the poll, National is up 2.6 points since November to 39.6 percent. ACT is up 5.6 points to 13.7 percent - which would allow the two parties to govern together without New Zealand First.
Labour dropped a marginal 0.4 points to 27.9 percent, while the Greens were down substantially to 9.0 percent - a drop of 4.8 points.
Among the smaller parties, NZ First was down 1 point to 5 percent, Te Pāti Māori was on 2.3 percent - a drop of 1.1 percentage points, and others combined were on 2.5 percent.
In the preferred Prime Minister stakes, Christopher Luxon dropped 4 points since November 2023 to 29 percent, while Chris Hipkins was up 1 point to 19 percent.
David Seymour increased 6 points to 10 percent while Winston Peters was up 1 point to 6 percent.
Green Party leadership contender Chlöe Swarbrick was also on 6 percent, unchanged from November 2023.
The poll also asked voters to rate how good a job the current Government is doing.
The results showed:
- 16.4 percent of respondents strongly approved
- 23.3 percent somewhat approved
- 18.3 percent somewhat disapproved
- 16.9 percent strongly disapproved
- 21.0 percent were neutral
- 4.1 percent were unsure
This gives the Government a net approval rating of +4.5 percent.
The poll was commissioned by the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union and carried out by Curia Market Research, which does National's internal polling.
The sample size was 1000 eligible New Zealand voters and the maximum sampling error (for a result of 50 percent) is +/- 3.1 percent, at the 95 percent confidence level.
