A new political poll shows Jacinda Ardern's approval ratings have dropped again, her lowest result since the ratings were first measured in October 2019.
Jacinda Ardern's approval ratings have steadily dropped over the last two years as New Zealand continues to battle Covid-19. Photo: POOL/ NZME
A pool of eligible voters were asked if they approve or disapprove of the way Ardern is handling her job as prime minister, in a new 1News Kantar Public poll.
The poll, run between 22 and 26 January, showed 52 percent of eligible voters approve of the way Ardern is handling her job, compared to 37 percent who disapprove.
A further 11 percent were unsure or refused to answer.
The results bring Ardern's net approval rating, the proportion who approve of a politician minus those who disapprove, to 15 percent.
Ardern's approval ratings have steadily dropped over the last two years as New Zealand continues to battle Covid-19.
They sat at 62 percent in October 2019, 86 percent in May 2020, 72 percent in September 2020 and 74 percent in October 2020.
Christopher Luxon Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
In this latest poll, eligible voters were also asked if they approve or disapprove of the way Christopher Luxon is handling his job as leader of the National Party.
The results show 42 percent approve of Luxon's performance, compared to 20 percent who disapprove.
A further 37 percent were unsure or refused to answer, bringing Luxon's approval rating to 22 percent.
The net approval result is twice that of Todd Muller's rating in the June 2020 poll, after he became National's leader.
The figure is closer to that of Judith Collins when she took over the leadership in July 2020, though it compares much more favourably to Collins' most recent approval rating in the November 2021 poll.
Collins' approval rating trended downwards throughout the time she was leader of the National Party.
The maximum sampling error in the latest poll is approximately plus 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.