A 3News-Reid Research poll, released on Sunday, sees Labour's support drop 2.1 points to 31 per cent, while National picks up that ground and more
otter case, rising 2.4 points to 49.5 per cent - a result that would enable it to govern alone.
The Greens were unchanged on 12 per cent while NZ First picked up 1.7 points, rising to 3.9 per cent - but still below the five per cent threshold needed to return to parliament.
Asked how party leaders were performing, Prime Minister John Key lost a few points - 52 per cent of voters think he's performing well, down three points, while 32.2 per cent think he's doing a poor job, up 1.9 per cent.
He's on 42 per cent support at preferred prime minister, up 1.3 on the last poll in May.
Mr Shearer's results are significantly worse.
Just 26.1 per cent of voters think he's doing a good job,
fr4 pcb shedding 10.1 points, while 43.3 per cent think he's doing poorly, up seven points - although he's up 1.6 points to 12.1 per cent as preferred prime minister.
The poll was taken after Mr Shearer demanded Labour's party leadership drop the controversial "man ban" proposal which would see women-only candidates in some seats to boost female representation.
He admits the issue has been a distraction.
"It's a wakeup call for us. People want us to be focused on the issues that affect them and not on Labour Party internal issues," Mr Shearer said.
The latest result comes as Labour's caucus heads into a two-day retreat, where Mr Shearer could face a grilling from his MPs - or they could again look at a potential leadership challenge
label sticker, as the 2014 general election ticks ever closer.
Renewed speculation of a challenge has been swirling since a poor poll result for Labour in June.
PR
