New Zealand's Final Polls Show a Near-Level Race Before the November 7 Election

New Zealand holds its general election on November 7, and the last published polls show the governing National Party and the opposition Labour Party almost level.

The most recent 1News-Verian poll, conducted between October 29 and November 2, put Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's National Party on 30% and Labour, led by Chris Hipkins, on 29%. National's figure was up one point on the previous poll, according to The Guardian.

A separate Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll, published on November 4, gave a different picture. It put National at 28.9%, up 0.4 points, and Labour at 28.4%, up 0.2 points. The Greens were put at 14.4%, up 1.1 points, and ACT rose 1.3 points. Radio New Zealand reported that the poll showed the current coalition level with a left-leaning bloc that includes the Opportunity Party.

A coalition is a group of parties that agree to govern together, and in this case the bloc led by National needs the support of its partners to hold a majority. The two major parties' results sit close to one another, and the smaller parties' movements in the Curia poll are the largest changes reported in that survey.

The New York Times reported that National has been polling at almost historic lows, and that Labour has been polling at almost historic lows too. Its headline described the contest as one that could "flip the table."

Voting has already been under way for some time. Enrolment, which means registering to vote, closed on October 25, and advance voting, or early voting, began the next day, October 26. Voters cannot enrol at a voting place, so the enrolment deadline fell 13 days before election day.