Luxon’s response to bad poll: Kiwis expect National to fix the economy, and in 2026 ‘they’ll make their call’

Monday, 11 August 2025

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the public doesn’t want him “talking about myself or polls”, after a new poll showed Labour would overtake National in a hung parliament if an election was held today.

The latest Taxpayers’ Union-Curia Poll has the major political blocs tied on 61 seats – a result that would deliver a hung parliament.

Luxon told Newstalk ZB on Monday he doesn’t “go into polls” because “there is a different poll every week in this country”.

He said the big trend that is “pretty obvious” is the public expecting National to fix the economy “and then in 2026 they’ll make their call”.

Luxon was asked on RNZ if New Zealanders were losing confidence in National’s ability to fix the economy.

He said despite the Covid hangover and the worst recession in 30 years “we’ve actually had good growth”.

The poll, conducted between August 3 and 5, shows Labour up 2.0 points to 33.6%, while National fell 2.1 points to 31.8%.

The Greens rose 0.4 points to 9.8%, ACT dropped 0.5 points to 8.6%, NZ First fell 2.0 points to 7.8%, and Te Pāti Māori slipped 0.3 points to 3.2%.

On projected seats, Labour gains four to 43, National loses two to 40, the Greens remain on 12, ACT on 11, New Zealand First drops two to 10, and Te Pāti Māori stays on six.

The combined Centre-Right total of 61 seats is down four from last month, while the Centre-Left total is up four to 61.

Cost of living remains voters’ top concern at 24.4% (+2.8 points), followed by the economy more generally at 20.7% (+1.6 points). Together, these are the most important issues for 45.1% of respondents. Health ranked next at 10%, and employment at 6.0%.

The poll, of 1000 New Zealanders, has a maximum margin of error of +/- 3.1% and 6.2% were undecided on the party vote question.