Election tightens as National drops 3 percent in new poll

Bill English and Jacinda Ardern.
Bill English and Jacinda Ardern. Photo credit: Getty

A new poll has National only three points ahead of Labour, and the Greens on steady footing, according to a report.

Polling by UMR for Labour has the resurgent party on 37 percent, and National 40 percent, NZME reports.

It's the first time support for National and Labour have fallen within a poll's margin of error in many years.

There's also good news for the Green Party - UMR has it on 8 percent. That's lower than the mid-teens the party registered in some polls following Metiria Turei's welfare speech, but well above the 4.3 percent it registered in the TVNZ-Colmar Brunton poll earlier this week.

NZ First remains the kingmaker, on 9 percent.

NZME noted the UMR poll traditionally has a lower result for National than other polls, but the decline - from 43 to 40 percent - mirrors that of the TVNZ-Colmar Brunton poll, in which the party fell from 47 to 44 percent.

The latest Newshub-Reid Research poll had National on 44.4 percent - the lowest in 10 years - and Labour up 9 percent to 33.1.

Jacinda Ardern's favourability rating is 70 percent, compared to 57 percent for Prime Minister Bill English.  

The UMR poll of 750 voters has a margin of error of 3.6 percent.

Newshub.