National and Labour are tied as the party that voters trust most to tackle the cost of living, a 1News Verian poll shows, while 70% of voters want schools to keep the Government’s hour-a-day reading, writing and maths rule.
In the latest poll, the two major parties each drew 28% when voters were asked which party they trusted most to address the cost of living.
The Greens came third on 10%, followed by ACT on 7%, then NZ First on 6%, Opportunity on 3% and Te Pāti Māori on 1%.
Almost one in five voters, 17%, said none, did not know or preferred not to say.
1News Verian Poll: Who do Kiwis trust to tackle cost of living? – Watch on TVNZ+
The first votes in the general election have begun being cast overseas, with voting opening today for about 126,000 enrolled voters abroad.
Fallout also continues from last night’s 1News poll, which put National on 32% in party support, five points clear of Labour on 27%, with 17 days until the election.
Voters support reading, writing, maths mandate
The same poll from last night found strong support for keeping the mandate to teach at least an hour each of reading, writing and maths every day.
Seventy per cent supported keeping the requirement, while 24% wanted it removed so schools could decide how much time to spend on the three subjects.
Two major parties have clashed over the mandatory one hour a day of reading, writing and maths for younger students. (Source: 1News)
Another 6% were unsure.
Support was strongest among ACT supporters (91%), National supporters (87%) and men aged 50 and over (79%). Green supporters were the only group in which a majority wanted the rule scrapped, at 54%.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said last week his party wanted to give schools the flexibility to structure the day around what was best for their students.
“Every kid’s different – they learn differently. Some kids need more time with reading than with maths. Other kids need more time with maths than with reading,” he said.
Hipkins argued schools had already been doing at least an hour each of reading, writing and maths before the requirement was introduced. National leader Christopher Luxon has called it a “really important policy” and repeatedly assailed Labour over its position.
National education spokesperson Erica Stanford said the result was “not unexpected”.
“Kiwis and parents can see the transformation of our education system with these reforms. They can see it in their children, they know that it’s working,” she said.
“We’ve had the policy of leaving it up to schools before, and that didn’t work.”
Opportunity question lingers
On the campaign trail in Pongakawa, in the Bay of Plenty, Luxon faced questions about National’s rule-out of the Opportunity Party from his own supporters.
One told 1News they expected him to end up working with the party after the election.
“As I said, I’ve ruled out Opportunity. I don’t know how to be any clearer about it,” Luxon told 1News today, reiterating his position ruling out working with Qiulae Wong.
Meanwhile, Labour campaign chairperson Kieran McAnulty ruled out Labour nudging its supporters towards Opportunity if the party slipped below the 5% threshold.
“We’re campaigning for two ticks Labour. That’s it. We don’t do deals,” he said.
But he predicted Opportunity, on 7% in yesterday’s 1News poll, would make it into Parliament and said his party couldn’t govern without it on current numbers.
“The Government, as it is currently made up, can’t get re-elected without Opportunity, and nor can we, and so it’s going to be incredibly close,” he said.
“I predict that they will get in, and therefore that’s why I’m saying that between Labour, Greens and Opportunity – we’re nearly there.”
Hipkins pointed to a rival poll when asked today about his party’s slump. Asked in Hamilton if voters were responding to Labour’s message, he said the slump was “only on the TV1 poll”.
“I know you guys don’t like to admit that your competitors might have a point, but if you look at the Freshwater poll that was carried by The Post yesterday, it said exactly the opposite.”
The Post-Freshwater Strategy poll, taken between October 9 and 19, had Labour on 28.7% and National on 27.6%.
McAnulty went further: “I actually am willing to make a prediction that in a week’s time, when 1News do their next poll, there’ll probably be a correction”.
Between October 15 and October 19 2026, 1003 eligible voters were polled by mobile phone (500) and online using online panels (503). The maximum sampling error is approximately ±3.1%-points at the 95% confidence level. Party support percentages have been rounded up or down to whole numbers, except those less than 4.5%, which are reported to one decimal place. The data has been weighted to align with Stats NZ population counts for age, gender, region, ethnic identification and education level. The sample for mobile phones is selected by random dialling using probability sampling, and the online sample is collected using an online panel. Undecided voters, non-voters and those who refused to answer are excluded from the data on party support. The results are a snapshot in time of party support, and not a prediction.