But Opportunity rose three points to reach 8%, above the 5% threshold to enter Parliament.
On those results, Labour would receive 38 seats and National 36. The Greens would have 15, Act 11, NZ First 10 and Opportunity nine, assuming six other Māori electorate incumbents retain their seats.
Sixty-three seats would be required to govern; the results mean Labour would need Opportunity, the Greens and at least one other partner in Parliament.
National, Act and NZ First would have a combined 57 seats, leaving National leader Christopher Luxon, who ruled out his party working with Opportunity, with no clear path to form a governing coalition.
The poll’s release comes hours after Luxon survived a confidence vote in his leadership at a caucus meeting.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon survived another confidence vote today. New Zealand Herald photo by Sylvie Whinray
Luxon emerged from the nearly three-hour hui declaring he had the “full support” of the caucus and National was united heading into the November 7 election.
It was the second time in four months Luxon had faced a confidence vote in his leadership.
The party vote results followed the release of the poll’s preferred Prime Minister rankings earlier today, which showed Luxon’s personal support slipping.
Luxon fell one percentage point from the previous 1News-Verian poll in June to 17%, while Labour leader Chris Hipkins also dropped one point to 15%.
Senior minister Erica Stanford, who had been rumoured as a potential successor to Luxon if he lost the leadership, was on 2%. Minister Chris Bishop, whose name had also been featured in leadership speculation, was on 1%.
Christopher Luxon, flanked by senior MPs, tells the media he has retained his leadership of the National Party. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The 1News-Verian polling had NZ First leader Winston Peters on 7%, a three-point drop compared with polling in June. Peters’ fall followed scrutiny over comments Luxon and others labelled racist, when he told China-born Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan to “go back to your own country”.
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick remained on 6% and Act leader David Seymour rose one point to 5%.
The poll surveyed 847 eligible voters and had a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.