Support for Labour has jumped strongly in the latest 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton political poll.
The party is at 48 per cent, up nine points on its December poll result, its highest level in 15 years.
And it now has a clear lead over National which has slipped three points since December to be at 43 per cent.
Labour's coalition and support partners have also slipped, however.
After a strong start in opposition, National's support has faded a little.
The Greens are down two per cent to five per cent and New Zealand First is below the five per cent threshold at three per cent, down two this poll.
In the preferred Prime Minister stakes. Jacinda Ardern has climbed another four points to 41 per cent. That gives her a big lead over Bill English who slipped eight points to 20 per cent.
Winston Peters is down one per cent to four per cent.
Tonight's poll was conducted between February 10 and 14 so did not fully capture Mr English' resignation announcement.
Ms Ardern says the result reflects the fact that post-election, people wanted to give Labour a bit of time and see how well it would perform.
"Hopefully they are seeing a bit of us now and having confidence in us now and I hope that's reflected in this poll," she said.
However Ms Ardern wasn't going to get too carried away and stressed she will always remain sceptical of good results as well as bad poll results.
Mr English says it's not unusual for new governments to see a surge in the polls and the big challenge is for Labour to deliver on its promises.
When asked about whether the result may cause friction with her coalition partners - given their falling poll numbers - Ms Ardern said the poll result should be seen as a reflection of all the parties in Government and their performance.
Meanwhile tonight's poll shows optimism in the economy stabilising after a big slide in December.
The number of people who expect the economy to get better was 37 per cent this poll, up one on December. Those that think it will get worse was down three per cent to 33 per cent.
Thirty per cent expect conditions to stay the same.
Tonight's poll was of just over 1000 voters and used a 50/50 split of landlines and mobile phones. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 per cent.
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