Source: Radio New Zealand
A poll result puts National on 28.4 percent. RNZ / Marika Khabazi
The Prime Minister has told Newstalk ZB he is ‘absolutely not’ considering standing down after a poll result putting National in the 20s.
“The only thing I am considering is the future of our children and grandchildren.”
And said he has the skills to lead the National Party and the country.
His comments come after speculation about his leadership following a Taxpayers’ Union Curia poll today had National on 28.4 – down nearly 3 points from its poll last month.
Labour is up at 34.4, while the Greens, ACT, and Te Pati Māori are all up on 10.5, 7.5, and 3.2 respectively.
New Zealand First has taken a slight drop to 9.7.
On those results it would give the centre-Left bloc 61 seats, enough to govern, while the coalition government bloc would fall short on 59 seats.
Luxon said none of his Cabinet colleagues have told him to reconsider his future. He said “all of them” back him.
He said the only polling he takes note of is his National’s own internal polling which gets processed in the United Kingdom.
“I would reassure you – if there was a problem, I would be doing something about it. But we are long way away from what we’ve seen published in a TPU poll today.”
Luxon said he has “not thought about” what polling level would be the threshold for him to step down as prime minister.
“I have the full support of my team and my caucus.”
The poll comes at the end of a week where Christopher Luxon struggled to communicate clearly on the Iran conflict.
Speaking on NewstalkZB, Luxon acknowledged failings with his personal communication: “I’ve freely admitted, I’m not a career politician. I’m not always going to have the perfect most tidy soundbite like someone who’s been there 20 years would do.”
Luxon said the media had gotten carried away in its reaction to a public poll over the course of the day.
“The whole world seems to have got very exercised… the reason I’m going on your show is to clarify to people, no, I’m not doing that [considering my future].”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
