Chris Hipkins is likely to face questions on his suitability as Labour's leader after his personal popularity fell through the floor in a new poll.
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In the first major poll released since last October's election, Mr Hipkins lost almost half of his vote as preferred prime minister.
The final poll before the election showed National leader Chris Luxon and Mr Hipkins, then prime minister, neck and neck with 25 per cent support each.
Mr Luxon has retained his 25 per cent support in Monday night's poll, commissioned by TVNZ and undertaken by Verian, but Mr Hipkins fell to just 15 per cent.
"Naturally I'd love it to be higher but I accept I'm not the prime minister," Mr Hipkins told TVNZ.
"There's still a very strong level of support that I'm getting when I'm out and about."
Mr Hipkins was parachuted in as Labour leader and prime minister in January last year when Jacinda Ardern abruptly resigned her post.
The former education minister never matched his predecessor's popularity and couldn't steer Labour to a third term in office after a lacklustre election campaign.
He has faced criticism for a low-key start to the political year, including his failure to put out a single press release this year, and giving his MPs a longer break by not staging a traditional summer retreat.
TVNZ deputy political editor Maiki Sherman said Mr Hipkins had been "sleeping at the wheel and snoozing under the summer sun".
Mr Hipkins said "people are quite happy to see politicians take a bit of a back seat for the summer break," suggesting more activity was coming.
"We're going to be setting out in due course a refreshed lineup for the Labour party, and a refreshed platform. New ideas and new thinking."
He told TVNZ he wasn't contemplating resigning.
The party polling was remarkably consistent with the election results, with the biggest seven political parties all polling within one percent of the October 14 outcome.
The Maori Party recorded four per cent, its best result in seven years.
LATEST NZ POLL RESULTS
National - 38 per cent (same as election)
Labour - 28 (up 1)
Greens - 12 (same)
ACT - 8 (down 1)
NZF - 6 (same)
TPM - 4 (up 1)
TOP - 2 (same)
PREFERRED PRIME MINISTER
Chris Luxon (National) - 25 per cent (same as last TVNZ poll)
Chris Hipkins (Labour) - 15 (down 10)
Winston Peters (NZ First) - 6 (up 1)
David Seymour (ACT) - 4 (same)
Chloe Swarbrick (Greens) - 4 (up 2)
Jacinda Ardern (Labour) - 2 (up 1)
Australian Associated Press
