Prime Minister Christopher Luxon survived an embryonic coup from Senior Minister Chris Bishop at the end of last year. The coup was stopped before it got off the ground.
Bishop is scheduled to travel to India shortly, which means he will be absent from next Tuesday’s caucus meeting.
This poll will likely spark renewed leadership speculation, although Luxon supporters arguing the virtues of stability have not been hard to find. While there was no widespread appetite to roll Luxon, there is speculation that continued poor polling could see him resign.
On Thursday night, several MPs and staff had seen the poll or claimed to have seen it. There was no desire to initiate a leadership challenge on that number, but MPs acknowledged that there would be scrutiny placed on Luxon after such a poor performance.
Senior Minister Chris Bishop. Photo / Marika Khabazi, RNZ
Speaking to Ryan Bridge TODAY this morning, Collins said the public shouldn’t be “spooked” by the poll. She didn’t believe National backbenchers had been.
Collins, the former leader and a current minister, said it was a “tough job” being Prime Minister at a time like this.
“I think the whole world is going through this really weird space at the moment. There aren’t too many Prime Ministers or Presidents who aren’t getting bashed around in polls. People like certainty.”
She believed it to be a “temporary thing”.
“We still have a long way to go. We can start seeing the economy turn around.”
Asked about Luxon’s Iran misspeak earlier this week, Collins said there was only so much that could be said in the early stages of such a conflict.
“It is really difficult when people want definitive answers on everything, but you just can’t say it because of security reasons or because you’re waiting for information.”
Paul Goldsmith, the Justice Minister, told Ryan Bridge he hadn’t seen the poll.
“There is no secret; it has been a couple of reasonably tough weeks, but we are going to turn that around. No need to panic,” he said.
He said Kiwis had faced years of tough economic times and New Zealanders were “grumpy”. Goldsmith went on to blame Labour for that.
The National MP believed things would swing back to National at the election when New Zealanders were faced with a choice between it and Labour.
He gave his support to Luxon.
“He won’t be going anywhere. He is doing a very good job.”
National’s Judith Collins said it is a “tough job” being Prime Minister at a time like this. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Taxpayers’ Union executive director Jordan Williams, appearing on Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive on Newstalk ZB on Thursday, confirmed a poll was running on Friday and that politicians “as a courtesy” had been informed of the results.
He said the poll would be “likely to attract a little bit of attention”.
“It’s no secret that it’s been a tough few weeks for the Government. This poll may or may not reflect that,” he said.
MPs contacted by the Herald echoed these remarks, noting it had been a difficult few weeks for the party and they were expecting the polls to reflect those difficulties.
Luxon has come under pressure this week for his handling of New Zealand’s response to the United States and Israel’s bombing of Iran.
His Monday post-Cabinet press conference was criticised in the media and drew comparisons with former Labour MP Clare Curran’s disastrous handling of parliamentary questions shortly before she resigned from the Ardern Government.
Luxon stumbled repeatedly when asked to explain the Government’s position before claiming that he “couldn’t be any clearer”.
He later admitted he’d misspoken when he said “any action” to stop the Iranian regime would be “a good thing”.