"Judith Collins is going to have to work really hard at convincing them (her colleagues) that leadership changes are messy if she wants to stay in her job," 1News political editor Jessica Mutch McKay says after Monday night's poor poll result for National.
Both major political parties took a three per cent drop in support in Monday night's 1News Colmar Brunton poll, with the governing Labour Party down to 43 per cent and National down to 26 per cent.
But it was preferred prime minister rankings which really showed Collins' unpopularity.
Her preferred PM ranking has sunk to her lowest ever since becoming National leader – dropping by four per cent, now sitting on just five per cent.
Simon Bridges was also at five per cent as preferred PM when he was rolled as National leader by Todd Muller. National was polling higher on 29 per cent at the time.
But while Collins is "staying firm" that she'll lead National into the next election, Mutch McKay said: "When I have been talking to people over the last 24 hours there's definitely a sense there's a fresh energy, there's those rumblings around changing of a leadership."
The previous 1News Colmar Brunton poll was in May, so the latest results reflect how Kiwis are feeling since the Covid-19 Delta outbreak and lockdown.
Mutch McKay said it appears there is a group of people who are frustrated with the way Labour has handled the Delta outbreak but may feel they're not getting their voices heard by National so are looking to ACT.
The poll showed ACT move up to 14 per cent support, with leader David Seymour up five per cent to 11 per cent as preferred prime minister.
"David Seymour will be smiling a lot at those preferred prime minister numbers," Mutch McKay said.
"I think the thing with David Seymour is he's always around, he is on message, he is quick to turn things around and he's focussed, and when I say focussed I mean he's not focussed on leadership issues and that has been an issue for Judith Collins.
"She's had to answer questions about her leadership and whether she should be in the role and that doesn't make it easy when you're trying to build those numbers up."
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