Prime Minister John Key is putting a better poll result for the Labour Party down to the media coverage it had over its leadership contest.
The Herald Digi-Poll survey shows Labour is up 6.8 to 37.7% for the party vote, while the National Party is down 5.1 to 43.7%.
The poll result comes just over a week after Labour chose its new leader David Cunliffe.
Mr Cunliffe rose 14.6 points in the preferred prime minister stakes to 16.8%, while Mr Key is down 9.4 to a still very healthy 55%, although the result is the lowest since he became Prime Minister.
With the Green Party polling consistently and slightly up on 11.3%, Labour and the Greens would be able to form a Government.
Mr Key says the poll reflects the publicity Labour has recently had.
"Labour's had an awful lot of coverage over the last five or six weeks and, you know, that is what it is but at the end of the day, you know, we're a good year away from an election. It's going to be tight, there'll be a lot of polls between now and then."
Mr Cunliffe is welcoming the result but says polls will bounce around before next year's election.
"What is does show is that on today's numbers, Labour would form a government and John Key would be out," he says.
The Herald Digi-Poll surveyed 750 eligible voters and has a margin of error of 3.6%.
