Labour's leader Andrew Little has raised the prospect of stepping aside as leader after his party recorded the lowest ever result in the One News Colmar Brunton poll, at 24 percent.
Labour leader Andrew Little. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Mr Little said as leader he had to take responsibility for that result, and eight weeks ahead of the general election discussed whether he should lead Labour into September's election with senior members of his caucus and the party.
He said he was given the message from his caucus they wanted him to stay on and fight, and that is what he intends to do.
In the Colmar Brunton poll Labour fell three points to 24 percent, while the Greens were up four points to 15 percent.
Last month there was controversy over the intern scheme gone bad, led by Labour's then Auckland campaign director Matt McCarten.
The last few weeks have also been dominated by coverage of New Zealand First and Green Party conferences marked by the various parties trading insults, and more recently the admission of benefit fraud by the Greens co-leader Metiria Turei.
Mr Little said while he did not condone any politician advocating actions that broke the law, any discussion about whether Mrs Turei could serve in a Cabinet he led would have to wait until after the election.
In the latest average for RNZ's poll of polls Labour is on 26.6 percent, National is on 46.3 percent, the Greens are on 12.5 percent and New Zealand First 10.5 percent.
That is an average of four polls from late June, through July, including the latest Colmar Brunton poll.