Greens surge, Act down in new poll, Chris Bishop now more popular than Christopher Luxon

The Green Party has surged by 3.3 points in the latest Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll, scoring 14.6 per cent – a very high poll rating for the party.

The party’s friends on the left, Te Pāti Māori, have also enjoyed a good bump, rising 2.1 points to 4.6 per cent, in what was generally a good poll for the left wing parties. Labour was also up, but only by 0.4 points to 25.7 per cent.

Act was the biggest loser on the right, falling 2.8 points to 7.2 per cent, NZ First fell 1.1 point to 6.3 per cent. National was also down, but by just 0.3 points to 37.1 per cent.

The results would give the coalition 64 seats, enough to govern, but down six seats from last month’s poll. The centre-left parties would be up three seats to 56 seats.

National would have 47 seats, down one; Labour would have 32 seats, the same as last month; the Greens would be up three to 18; Act would be down four seats to 8, and the poll assumes Te Pāti Māori retains its six electorate seats.

There is more bad news for National. Leader Christopher Luxon is no longer the the favourite Chris in the National Party – and is only the third favourite Chris in Parliament.

Luxon’s net favourability has fallen another two points to -7 per cent. Labour leader Chris Hipkins’ support has plunged eight points to -6 per cent. The poll looked at the favourability of Chris Bishop, whose net favourability is -4 per cent, making him less disliked, on balance, than the other two Chirsses.

Being less well-known can help in these polls as it tends to reduce the number of people who say they dislike you. This one helped Luxon best a still relatively popular Jacinda Ardern in the net favourability stakes.

David Seymour is down three points to -11 per cent while Winston Peters is down six points to -18 per cent. Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick had a net favourability of -19 per cent.

More to come…

Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.