National and Labour gap narrows in 1News-Verian poll

The latest 1News-Verian poll has National on 29% and Labour on 27%, narrowing the gap between the two major parties, RNZ reported.

National fell three points from 32% in the previous week's 1News-Verian poll. Labour's support was unchanged at 27%. That earlier poll had National five points ahead of Labour.

The Greens are on 15%, down one point. ACT is on 12%, up one point, and New Zealand First is on 10%, up two points. The Opportunity Party is on 6%, down one point. Te Pāti Māori is on 0.1%, the lowest result the party has recorded on the poll. It was on 0.7% the previous week.

New Zealand uses the mixed-member proportional system, or MMP, in which seats in Parliament are allocated broadly in line with each party's share of the vote. On the poll numbers, National would win 34 seats, ACT 15 and New Zealand First 12, a total of 61 seats across the three parties. Labour would win 33 seats, the Greens 18, Te Pāti Māori four and the Te Tai Tokerau Party one. The Opportunity Party would win eight seats. RNZ reports that it remains the power broker between the right and left blocs.

In preferred prime minister rankings, Christopher Luxon is on 24%, up four points. Chris Hipkins is on 18%, up one point.

The poll surveyed 1003 eligible voters between 15 and 19 October 2026. Of those, 500 were interviewed by mobile phone and 503 online. The maximum sampling error is about plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, meaning the true level of support for each party could sit that far above or below the figure reported.

A 1News report published on 21 October had National and Labour tied on cost of living, with 17 days to go until the election.