{"id":18311,"date":"2026-08-25T05:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T17:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=18311"},"modified":"2026-08-25T05:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T17:54:18","slug":"rnz-poll-did-national-make-the-wrong-call-keeping-luxon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=18311","title":{"rendered":"RNZ poll: Did National make the wrong call keeping Luxon?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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National’s decision to stick with Christopher Luxon appears at odds with the wider public, with more voters saying the caucus got it wrong than right.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The latest RNZ-Reid Research poll gauged voters’ views on National’s emergency caucus meeting two weeks ago, where a majority of MPs opted to keep Luxon as leader, foiling a bid to replace him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Asked whether that was the right call, 45.4 percent of respondents said no, compared with 36.8 percent who said yes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Another 17.8 percent were unsure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n
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Did the National Party caucus make the right call to keep Christopher Luxon as Prime Minister?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
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Yes<\/div>\n
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\n
<\/div>\n
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36.8%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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No<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
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45.4%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Don’t know<\/div>\n
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\n
<\/div>\n
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17.8%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Source:<\/span>\u00a0RNZ-Reid Research poll, August 2026<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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National supporters were the most likely to support Luxon, with 78 percent endorsing his continued leadership, against just 11.5 percent who disagreed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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ACT voters were less emphatic – with 54.2 percent in support of the decision to keep Luxon and 28.7 percent opposed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In contrast, New Zealand First voters leant against Luxon staying on, with 52.4 percent saying National MPs made the wrong decision, compared with 31.6 percent who backed them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Labour and Green supporters were much more likely to say National got it wrong, with 64.6 percent and 69.8 percent respectively registering their disapproval.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n
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Did the National Party caucus make the right call to keep Christopher Luxon as Prime Minister?<\/h3>\n

Hover or tap on a party in the chart legend to highlight results for that set of voters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Labour<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
National<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Greens<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
NZF<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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ACT<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Te<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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P\u0101ti M\u0101ori<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Opportunity<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Other<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
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Yes<\/div>\n
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9%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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14.1%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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17.7%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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18.7%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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31.6%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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37.8%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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54.2%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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78%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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No<\/div>\n
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11.5%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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28.7%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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29.1%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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52.4%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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62.8%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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64.6%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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66.7%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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69.8%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Don’t know<\/div>\n
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10.5%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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15.6%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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16%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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17.1%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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18.5%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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21.2%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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21.3%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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33.1%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Chart:<\/span>\u00a0RNZ<\/span>Source:<\/span>\u00a0RNZ-Reid Research poll, August 2026<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The poll also asked those who wanted Luxon gone who they would have picked to take over from a selection of names discussed during the recent leadership turmoil.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Erica Stanford was the most popular name, at 16.6 percent, narrowly ahead of Chris Bishop on 15.2 percent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Nicola Willis was third on 9 percent, followed by Chris Penk on 7.6 percent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But the largest share by far went to ‘none of the above’, selected by 39.6 percent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A further 13.3 percent said they did not know.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Following the failed leadership coup, Luxon sacked Chris Penk from Cabinet, declaring that the rogue MP had acted alone in challenging the prime ministership.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But sources within and close to the party connected Stanford to the failed bid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the aftermath, Stanford denied any involvement, but prior to the meeting, she stayed silent when repeatedly asked by reporters if she had confidence in Luxon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Bishop and Willis were also believed to be positioning themselves if the party leadership was vacated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Both declared loyalty to Luxon before and after the caucus meeting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This poll of 1000 people was conducted by Reid Research, using quota sampling and weighting to ensure representative cross section by age, gender and geography. The poll was conducted through online interviews between 14-21 August 2026 and has a maximum margin of error of +\/- 3.1 percent at a 95 percent confidence level.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

rnz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

National’s decision to stick with Christopher Luxon appears at odds with the wider public, with more voters saying the caucus got it wrong than right. The latest RNZ-Reid Research poll gauged voters’ views on National’s emergency caucus meeting two weeks ago, where a majority of MPs opted to keep Luxon as leader, foiling a bid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18313,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18311\/revisions\/18313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}