It's all a matter of perspective when judging both preferred Prime Minister polls and Government performance, argues Simon Bridges - one you have to look to the past, the other the present.
The National Party Leader was forced to defend his low, and dwindling, preferred PM rating this morning on TVNZ1's Breakfast, after yesterday's 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton poll had him sitting at just 10 per cent.
Mr Bridges argued his rating was still not as low as former Prime Ministers Helen Clark and Jim Bolger at a similar point of their opposition leadership.
"In relation to me it is the party vote that matters, that's what determines power in Parliament," he said.
"But I don't take any of it lightly, it's very early days and I think if you look at a Bolger or a Clark or so on, they actually polled lower than I was right now.
"But I don't want this handed to me on a platter. I know that I've got to keep working hard to earn the trust and confidence of New Zealanders over the next couple of years to an election.
"This is not something that happens over a small number of months, to get the Prime Ministership in what I think is the best little country in the world."
Despite a big push to boost the National leader's popularity, support for him has dropped, according to the latest 1 News Colmar Brunton poll.
Mr Bridges was at pains to emphasise National's unprecedented high polling as a party, sitting as the most popular party at 45 per cent, compared to Labour's 42 per cent.
"I think the reality is when you look at those polls they're pretty remarkable really. They show a Government, when historically you would say now is their time to be making headway, that hasn't made any headway," Mr Bridges said.
"It's not getting anywhere with the New Zealand public. We have never seen, literally in my lifetime an opposition party at 45 per cent."
However, on the criteria of economic performance, Mr Bridges was holding the Government to a very short-term timeline, claiming every economic problem facing New Zealand has been created by the Labour-led Government's 10 months in power.
"I wouldn't do any of the things this Government has done. I mean really they created, and they are solely to blame, for the problems we face in New Zealand at the moment," Mr Bridges said.
"There is no other credible explanation.
"Whether it's banning oil and gas, whether it's banning mining, whether it's barmy industrial law policies that take us back to the 70s, whether it's incoherent immigration overseas investment polices, whether it's more taxes that they don't need to put on, all of these things, from the businesses I talk to every single week, are having a very real effect."
To read a full rundown of yesterday's 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton poll click here.
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