The latest 1 NEWS-Colmar Brunton political poll is being released tonight, giving New Zealand a snapshot of where the parties are at less than four weeks out from the election.
Polls can be make or break for politicians. Andrew Little was replaced as Labour leader by Jacinda Ardern last election after the party plummeted in the polls.
This year, Simon Bridges was pushed out as National's leader after a series of disastrous poll results, to be replaced by Todd Muller and later, Judith Collins.
Politicians love to hate them, but they also pay a lot of attention to the polls.
So just how does the 1 NEWS-Colmar Brunton poll work?
A whole lot of phone calls are made, with 1000 eligible voters polled to get a snapshot of their intentions.
"We randomly generate both landline and mobile numbers so we call 40 per cent are landline and then 60 per cent by mobile," Colmar Brunton's Edward Langley says.
"It was after the 2017 election that we decided to introduce the mobile calling, and that's the key change we've made to ensure it remains relevant and representative."
All over the country, people are asked questions like who are you voting for.
The answers are collated, weighted, then delivered to 1 NEWS to report.
"They're actually based on fairly rigorous science," political scientist Lara Greaves says.
The latest poll will be released on 1 NEWS at 6pm tonight, ahead of the first leader's debate between Judith Collins and Jacinda Ardern.
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